Budva has faced a number of challenges this tourist season, including reduced guest numbers, problems with air accessibility, and rising prices due to an increase in the value-added tax (VAT) rate.
However, the local administration emphasizes that the season, from the Municipality's perspective, has been prepared at a high level - the city is clean, all services are available 24 hours a day, and tourists are provided with events and various activities.
The President of the Municipal Assembly (MA) of Budva, Petar Odžić, warned in "Colors of the Morning" on Television Vijesti that the decline in the number of tourists could have serious consequences for the state budget.
"Budva participates with some 50 to 60 percent in the total tourism turnover and if Budva lags behind in that tourist turnover, then it is a big problem for the state. As for the reasons, there are many reasons. We have repeatedly, on several occasions, noted that the increase in the VAT rate by 110 percent right after last season is a catastrophic move by a government. The price in accommodation facilities automatically increased, but also in restaurants because the VAT on food, non-alcoholic beverages, etc. was increased. We believe that the VAT rate must go down from year to year, that we must be competitive in terms of prices with our region and you can compare VAT prices in tourism with surrounding countries and you will see that it is much lower compared to Montenegro. Also, air accessibility, I think that we have become a country that is completely accessible by air. Now we can no longer talk about whether we have made any better progress compared to last year, but we are trying to reduce, I would say, losses in air accessibility," he said. Odzic.
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