The big losses of the winter tourist season, measured in millions of euros, will certainly not be able to fully compensate for the coming summer. But, despite that, in Kolašin, earlier than usual, they started preparing for the season, which, they hope in the local administration, will provide results worthy of satisfaction and effort.
The local Tourist Organization (TO) has been actively presenting the Kolašin offer at fairs throughout the region for months. Although there are currently almost no tourists in the city, a significant occupancy of accommodation capacities is expected already next weekend, when the Music Festival of the Youth of Montenegro takes place in Kolašin.
Kolašin, the local administration promises, will welcome the first summer tourists with the solved part of the traffic problems, which have become especially complicated after the opening of the Klisura tunnel, that is, the Jezerine-Lubnica regional road. Also, they announce that all those who will spend the summer in that city will be welcomed by a carefully designed and varied non-boarding offer.
As the Deputy President of the Municipality told "Vijesti". Vasilije Ivanovic, work is being done rapidly to find solutions or mitigate the most current, mostly inherited challenges. Also, he claims, a calendar of events is being determined, which should attract tourists of various interests.
"Expectations from the summer season are to mitigate the losses of the tourist winter to some extent. We are working quickly to design events in the city during the summer months. However, it is impossible to ignore the fact that the financial resources of the Tourist Organization are minimal, compared to what a town with tourism potential like Kolašin needs," he says.
Ivanović reminds that the local administration has no mechanisms to help accommodation providers, after the failed winter tourist season. He is surprised, as he says, by the "absence of interest from the relevant ministry in some form of support". That support, Ivanović explains, could be reflected "at least in helping to organize certain tourist content during the summer, for which, so far, there are no hints".
"According to the current situation, the organization of all planned events will fall on a modest local budget. However, much of the summer events calendar is already certain. We will start already on May 10, with the celebration of Europe Day, during which panel discussions, press conferences, a rich music and entertainment program will be organized, and a concert will be held on Trg boraca Isak Šabanović. The basketball camp is from June 22 to July 7, and from June 30 to July 6 there is also a goalkeeping camp. The tango camp takes place from July 10 to 28," announced Ivanović.
According to him, the Bjelasica trail is planned for this year as well, from August 4 to 8, and a lot of work is being done on the organization of the Tourism Festival, which should be held at the end of June.
The content and continuity of the music and entertainment program, which is traditionally organized during the summer in Sibirska street, or the contents for the youngest in the main city square, depends on the state of the municipal coffers, Ivanović explains.
The international festival of the alternative theater Coryfej and the irregular summer will be one of the main assets of the Kolašin cultural offer.
The president of the Association of Private Accommodation Providers also claims that events are key for Kolašin tourism Dusko Raketic.
"In addition to the fact that there are a large number of participants at the events, they are also a magnet for other tourists and create an atmosphere in the city that is pleasant for everyone. We already have people who organize events in Kolašin, we just need to give them the wind at their backs, I mean the municipality and the state, that is, the line ministry," says Raketić.
This, he claims, is confirmed by the fact that the apartments, which have been empty for months until now, will be filled by the participants of the Music Festival next weekend.
In addition to events in the city, the focus of the next tourist summer will definitely be, as previously announced by TO, active tourism, which has proven to be a lure for a significant number of tourists. It is also expected that rural tourism, which is increasingly interesting to tourists, will record visits similar to last year.
Traffic challenges and a sports zone are among the priorities
With the opening of the Klisura tunnel, several streets in the city center became the "connection" of the regional road to Berane and the highway. In addition to the fact that "highway" traffic in the city creates numerous problems for those who live in Kolašin, it could also give a very bad impression to tourists. However, as announced by Ivanovic, the Municipality, together with the Government and the Ministry of Transport, is working to solve these challenges.
"The traffic problem, which has been highlighted by the media in recent weeks, is current, but it is also inherited. We are working with the traffic department in the Government on an accelerated solution to that problem. Preparations are underway for designing solutions for several critical points, and I am sure that we will start modernizing the roads in the shortest possible time," explains the vice president of the Municipality.
Ivanovic also announces projects that, he says, should put Kolašin back on the map of respectable destinations for training athletes. Recently, a tender was announced for the selection of contractors for the first four, out of a total of 11 phases, of the construction of sports fields and other facilities, on the area next to the promenade next to Tara.
The "difficult" works of three million euros should provide Kolašin with two courts for basketball and volleyball with accompanying facilities, bleachers and a fence, as well as two tennis courts, an athletics track and the main football field.
Although putting the area next to Tara into operation can only be expected next year. Ivanovic says that by announcing the tender, "the conditions are met to finally begin the valorization of the space intended for sports and recreation."
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