The intensive anti-Montenegro campaign on Serbian portals has been aimed at destroying the image of Montenegro as a desirable tourist destination in recent days, the Digital Forensic Center (DFC) announced today.
"Serbian and pro-Serbian oriented media do not miss the opportunity to emphasize the weaknesses of the tourist offer on the Montenegrin coast, favoring other destinations. Ignoring the essence of the decision by which the Montenegrin Government took the same position towards all countries that have more than 25 infected with the corona virus per 100.000 inhabitants, official Serbia, as well as the mentioned media, they reacted strongly. By the way, the mentioned decision, apart from health reasons, was not motivated by political or any ideological reasons, because except for Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Albania, Poland, the Czech Republic and Greece, the borders are closed for all countries with more than 25 infected per 100.000 inhabitants. Meanwhile, the Government announced that the decision was made based on the recommendations of the EU and the Institute of Public Health, but that it is possible that Montenegro will open its borders with some other countries from the region in depending on the situation when the order enters into force," the DFC press release points out.
Claims that it was a politically motivated decision
The DFC said that official Belgrade, reacting to Montenegro's decision not to include Serbia in the group of countries with which Montenegro will open its borders on June 1, claims that it is purely a political decision.
"Prime Minister Ana Brnabić stated that Serbia will not close its borders for Montenegrin citizens as Podgorica did for Serbian citizens, stressing that Serbian citizens should not go where they are not welcome. On the same day, the Civil Aviation Directorate of Serbia banned the landing of planes of Montenegro Airlines to the Belgrade airport. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, said that the Montenegrin government deliberately did not include Serbia in the list of countries whose citizens can freely enter the territory of Montenegro. According to him, the Montenegrin government actually said that we do not need tourists from Serbia ", DFC said.
They said that according to the data from the official portal Covid19.rs, a total of 11.227 cases of coronavirus infection have been confirmed in Serbia since the beginning of the epidemic, and 6.067 people have been cured (data at the time of writing the DFC statement).
"This means that there are currently 5.160 active cases of infection with the corona virus, that is, 72 patients for every 100.000 inhabitants, which is significantly more than the quota set by the Montenegrin government," the DFC statement reads.
Negative narratives
The DFC statement states that parallel to the messages from the highest Serbian officials that Serbs should not come to Montenegro, there are also messages from Serbian tabloids:
"MONTEGREAN RESTAURANTS DEPRESSED: What local guests come to us over the weekend is ours!, Montenegrins are whining, their season is over! Beaches are empty, guests are not in sight, Is Montenegro without Serbs this summer CONDEMNED TO PERIOD? Here is exactly how many Serbs are flying there and how much they spend, RUSSIANS ARE NOT COMING, EVERYONE CANCELLS, THERE IS NO WORKFORCE: Forecasts for the season in Montenegro are bad!, SHARK in Montenegro! A THREE METERS shark was spotted near the favorite beaches of Serbian tourists, SERBS, DO NOT GO TO MONTENEGRO TO THE SEA! Here's what can happen to you. These are just some of the headlines with which media outlets such as Espreso, Alo, Telegraf, Srbija danas, Informer spread negative narratives about Montenegro," said the DFC.
They state that in addition to these, a number of fake news are published every day.
"One of them is that 17 Budućnost fans were detained in Podgorica and Cetinje, with stickers of Serbs on willows! and Serbs, out of Montenegro, as well as an arsenal of cold weapons, which was initially published by Informer. The same portal claims were preparing to lynch tourists from Serbia during the season in Budva, Kotor and Tivat, smash their cars, remove their registrations and put threatening stickers on them," the DFC said.
Fake news and fabricated statistics
DFC states that in addition to media from Serbia, fake news was also published by Montenegrin portals.
"That's how IN4S writes about a new research in the hotel industry, stating that only 4% of Serbian citizens want to go to Montenegro, unlike Greece, which is chosen by 80% of them?! After that publication, the text was picked up by numerous tabloids from Serbia. Let's remember, this year's intensified campaign directed against the tourism industry of Montenegro is not a new phenomenon. It is a continuation of the negative propaganda of all previous years when our country was presented as an expensive and unsafe destination, with dirty beaches and aggressive locals who do not like Serbs. Narratives about a pre-failed season are repeated. from year to year. Fortunately, so far they have not harmed our tourism, what's more. We hope that it will be the same this year, with the caveat that the pandemic will certainly leave its mark not only on the tourism economy of Montenegro, but also on other tourism destination in the environment and the world and beyond," concludes the DFC announcement.
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