The fact that there are currently around 115 thousand tourists in Montenegro is worrying, especially considering that according to estimates we have over 500 thousand beds, said Prof. Dr. Rade Ratković, a tourism expert, for Boje jutra on TV Vijesti.
He says that Montenegro had 11 million overnight stays in the 2012s, stating that this was followed by a decline, then a brief recovery in 2019, and that only in XNUMX did the season benefit.
"Non-tourism is also on the rise this year. We are looking at the Mediterranean. That is relevant for us, from Portugal to Turkey. So, most countries or almost all countries except us are increasing. Croatia was a little worse in May, but they ironed it out in June. Unlike us, they have fresh data, so to speak, up-to-date. They have today's data for everything, for yesterday's data, and we have data from a month ago in basic accommodation, in collective accommodation, and in this individual non-commercial accommodation we have estimates that are given monthly and that is with a delay, so this tourist subsidy is our specificity and we have another specificity that is long-term that we often refer to, but no one wants to hear about it," adds Ratković.
The tourism expert states that, unlike other Mediterranean countries, in recent years the occupancy rate in Montenegro has been between 32 and 35 percent. Montenegro, he says, must move towards organized tourism instead of quasi-tourism.
"Tourists are now looking for a well-maintained infrastructure. They don't want to come to a destination where they drive in dust, where there are roadworks, where you drive an average of 10 or 8 km per hour, break down cars, etc. Secondly, there is a huge crowd, so we have created a type of unsustainable tourism or quasi-tourism, so our strongest capacities, the most numerous capacities are secondary apartments. So secondary housing, in the accommodation structure, is close to 80%, which is catastrophic," says Ratković.
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