The tourist organizations of Mojkovac and Kolašin are pleased with the growing interest of tourists from the western market in staying in rural households. This, they explain, is particularly pronounced during the summer tourist season and off-season, and they expect such interest to grow.
According to the director of the Mojkovac TO Radonje Vuković, in that municipality, about 50 households are registered to provide rural tourism services. The interest of Mojkovci residents to increase their income in this way, that is, to combine agricultural production with tourism, is not waning, he claims. Currently, five or six more farmers are in the process of registering their accommodation.
Vuković explains that interest in spending the summer in the villages of Mojkovac is mainly shown by foreign tourists. Most of the accommodation facilities of this type are located in the villages of Dobrilovina, Štitarica, Podbišće...
"Although there are rural households in other villages, those villages are attractive, which is why they have the most registered accommodation. Dobrilovina because of its proximity to the Tara Canyon, Crni Podi, Durmitor National Park, monasteries... Štitarica is at the foot of Sinjajevina, has an asphalt road, is relatively close to the city, and yet guarantees a vacation in peace and nature," he says.
The director of the Mojkovac TO explains that tourists sometimes stay with a host for 15 to 20 days. They are interested in "local traditions, customs, village work," and often, says Vuković, insist on participating in village chores.
According to him, the local government has recognized the potential of rural tourism and is paying attention to improving this area. He also argues this with the way the municipal agricultural budget was created. The competent secretariat, he claims, thoughtfully and by analyzing the real needs of farmers in general, including those who want to additionally engage in tourism, designs forms of support.
Vuković reminds that the strategic goals of Mojkovac's development are agriculture and tourism, and says that in the future, rural tourism in that municipality should be developed in parallel and in a balanced way with hotel tourism. The municipality currently lacks hotel accommodation capacities.
As the director of the Kolašin TO told "Vijesti", Zorica Milašinović, there are about 20 registered households in that municipality that provide accommodation services. She explains that there is still a lot of room for a significant increase in that number, especially in parts of the municipality that are not yet sufficiently valorized.
"First of all, Sinjajevina has enormous potential for the development of rural tourism. Tourists, and often the local population, have not yet properly realized the potential of the Moračka Mountains. Certainly, during the summer, there are more and more foreign tourists who want to relax in complete peace and quiet and an authentic rural ambience. The French and Germans, in particular, are at the forefront in their interest in staying in rural households or in katuns," says Milašinović.
Rural tourism has become the fastest growing branch of tourism globally after the COVID-19 pandemic. As the Association of Rural Households told "Vijesti" last year, in order to encourage the development of rural tourism in Montenegro, it is necessary to change the law in the part concerning rural households, and to change the method of taxation, moving from fiscalization to flat-rate taxation as in the region.
Rural tourism has become the fastest growing tourism sector globally after the COVID-19 pandemic. It is necessary to change the law regarding rural households and change the method of taxation, moving from fiscalization to flat-rate taxation as in the region.
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