A UNESCO World Heritage Site, located on the edge of a picturesque Adriatic bay, the town of Kotor in Montenegro is struggling with a surge in tourists that is clogging its narrow streets and raising environmental concerns.
This is what is written in the text of the Reuters agency "Montenegro's Adriatic jewel struggles with the influx of tourists".
Many visitors arrive on the hundreds of boats, yachts and cruise ships that dock at Kotor's port every day, which is why some people are calling for an increase in the one-euro fee that cruise ship visitors pay to enter the city.
The number of annual cruise ship arrivals has been steadily increasing over the past decade, and around 500 are expected this year.
On Wednesday alone, four cruise ships carrying around 5.000 tourists docked in the town, which featured in the 2006 James Bond film "Casino Royale."
While tourism contributes to approximately a quarter of the Montenegrin economy, the 23.000 inhabitants of Kotor feel the pressure, the text says.
"Traffic jams are huge," said Doris Dajkovic, who works in a local souvenir shop.
A series of protests against over-tourism have erupted this year in leading European destinations, including Venice in Italy, Barcelona in Spain and Santorini in Greece.
Locals say too many visitors drive up housing costs, drive residents out of the market and cause congestion and other environmental problems.
"The life of our neighbors is increasingly difficult during the tourist season," said Jovan Ristic, director of the local tourism organization, which supports the cruise tax increase.
"All similar tourist destinations are working to reduce or select passenger ships and seriously charge excursion fees," added Ristić.
In a world first, Venice introduced a five-euro charge in April for day-trippers who come on particularly crowded days, hoping the fee will deter some from visiting.
The rise of mass tourism is also taking its toll on the local marine environment.
"For such a large number of cruise ships, a study is needed to determine the maximum load on the environment," said Milica Mandić, a scientific advisor at the Institute of Marine Biology of Montenegro.
In neighboring Croatia, the UNESCO-protected Dubrovnik resort introduced the "Respect the City" plan in 2017, limiting the number of visitors from cruise ships to 4.000 at any one time.
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