EXTRACT FROM THE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY OF MONTENEGRO TO 2020

Nature tourists first choose the destination, then their intended holiday activity,and then the accommodation. Their main travel motive consists in experiencingan exceptionally beautiful natural environment and learning something about it.Their favourite activities are: sightseeing, contemplating landscape, watchingwildlife, taking part in well-organized informational hikes and visiting reserves.Observing fauna is the favourite.”

BULLETINNumber 90 - NOVEMBER 2009

November 2009

2.

PUBLISHERS:

GOVERNMENT OFMONTENEGRO

MINISTRY OF TOURISM

Minister:Mr. Predrag Nenezić

Secretary of the Ministry:Mrs. Željka Radak Kukavičić

PR:Mrs. Jelena Paović

Address:Rimski trg 46

81000 PodgoricaMontenegro

Phones:+382 (0)20 482 333+382 (0)20 482 334+382 (0)20 234 116

Fax:+382 (0)20 234 168

E-mail:mt@gov.me

Web site:www.mt.gov.me

NATIONAL TOURISMORGANISATION OF

MONTENEGRO

Managing Director:Mr. Saša Radović

Address:Rimski trg 47

81000 Podgorica Montenegro

Phone:+382 (0)20 235 155

Fax:+382 (0)20 235 159

Call center:1300

E-mail:info@montenegro.travel

Web site:www.montenegro.travel

This Bulletin is printed onrecycled paper.

The regular meet-ing between Na-tional TouristOrganization ofMontenegro onone side and localtourist organiza-tions, the Re-gional touristorganization, anddirectors of inter-national touristbranches on theother, was held on3rd November inPodgorica. Thechairman of the meeting was the director of NTO, Sasa Radovic, but the Deputy Minis-ter Nebojsa Popovic, coordinator of Hiking& Biking project, Dusanka Pavicevic and chieftourist inspector, Milovan Vujovic, participated actively as well.

In introducing speech, the Minister of tourism, Predrag Nenezic, reminded the partici-pants of summer 2009 tourist season`s results and promoted forthcoming activities,which are to be implemented in Government`s, local self -management`s, LTO`s, NTO`sand tourist industry coordination (as it was the practice for the preparation of the previ-ous season), with the intention of creating the more imposing synergy and goals, definedby mutual work. That model turned out to be beneficial, since the prolific tourist seasonfor summer 2009 (despite the circumstances of global crisis) was its result.

"Not only did we show apparent degree of responsibility and vitality of this tourist branch,but also emphasized how stable and defined we are, in spite of being the only feasiblebranch of the industry that contributes to the whole country`s budget immensely", saidMinister Nenezic.

Deputy Minister of Tourism, Nebojsa Popovic, informed everyone about the new legis-lation and income generated by residential fees, membership fees and tourist fees.

The director of NTO, Sasa Radovic mentioned the mutual appearances on internationaland regional markets for 2010, and promotional campaigns and activities for the forth-coming winter season 2009/10. At the same time, he appealed to local organizations toupdate and give further data at the official web site www.montenegro.travel, where allinterested subject might get posts free of charge, considering the fact that over 44% ofthe whole number of guests who paid visit to Montenegro, found more about the desti-nations particularly via internet.

The Advisor to the Ministry of tourism, Dusanka Pavicevic, presented the newly-devisedstandard "Bed & Bike", that promotes hiking and biking paths, with the fact that it is nowavailable to all accommodation capacities of hotel type, while it is planned to extendgranting of this standard to involve private accommodation as well. The presentationwas followed by open discussion and LTO and directors of tourist representative officesin Frankfurt, Sarajevo and Belgrade actively participate.

MINISTER OF TOURISM, PREDRAG NENEZIC,OPENS THE BUSINESS MEETING OF NTO AND

REGIONAL AND LOCAL TOURIST ORGANIZATIONS AND DIRECTORS OF TOURIST

REPRESENTATIVE OFFICES ABROAD

November 2009

3.

The ministry Conference underthe name of "The road sign to re-covery- Viable tourism in chal-lenging times" was held on the10th November 2009, within thescope of World Travel Market(WTM) that was being held in pe-riod from 9th to 12th November.The conference was opened byTaleb Rifai (the president of WTMby the United Nations), and manyother Ministers from over 50countries participated, as well aschief representatives of interna-tional tourist organizations. Theywere discussing current issues ofthe kind, which influence move-ments towards development inthis field nowadays.

Minister Nenezic gave a speechand participated in a panel discus-sion on the theme " The position-ing of travel unit and tourism inglobal frames", representing thetourist industry of Montenegro, devel-opment strategy of the tourism, itsadaptation to current processes of thekind in the world, and, above all, un-derlining economic and ecological cri-sis.

Jose Luis Zoreda (the executive pres-ident of Exceltur), moderated the workof the round table, where also partici-pated: Jean Claude Baumgarten (thepresident of World Council of Travelsand Tourism), tourism Ministers ofEgypt, India, Malaysia, Tunisia, thenAhmed Abdula Al Nuaimi (the presi-dent of the Institution for Tourism andManifestations, Qatar).

During the conference, it was being spoken about newtourist season, with a hint of moderate optimism, despite thefact that the intensity and duration of current crisis are stillnot foreseeable. Special emphasis was put on environmen-tal crisis (as a more long- lasting and hazardous challengefor economy boost in a medium a long period of time), whichcauses global climate changes and the loss of biodiversity.

What is more, there was a debate about directing of tourismdevelopment towards contribution, as well as about adap-

MINISTER OF TOURISM, PREDRAG NENEZIC, PARTICIPATES IN THE MINISTRY CONFERENCE OF

UNWTO IN LONDON

tation to new world`s "green" economy. Even thoughthe tourism has a significant impact on environment, italso represents a very intensive field in terms of activ-ities that contributes to the world economy to the greatextent, particularly because it improves all kinds ofeconomies, even those of the poor countries. In aword, it was concluded that the approach to the fur-ther improvement needs to be balanced, that a lot ofwork and effort must be put into it, alongside with themature and sober relations towards the necessity ofviable development. Not to mention that the imple-mentation of steady bounds between public and pri-vate units is of the vital importance. After the MinistryConference of UNWTO, Minister Nenezic gave aspeech at the press conference of WTTC, where thepresident of the organization Jean Claude Baum-garten presented the participants with new evaluationsof recession’s effects on global industry of travels andtourism, for the periods of 2009 and 2010.

Alongside, during this most significant and essential worldtourism market, the representatives of Montenegro delegacy(Minister Nenezic, director of NTO Sasa Radovic, and PM`sAdvisor Vojin Vlahovic) gave a series of interviews to someof the most important British media (such as BBc, Sky News,CNN, Travel channel, Eurosport), and had bilateral meet-ings with businessmen and investors, managers of world-famous companies, representatives of tour-operator andlong-term partners.

Minister Nenezic gave aspeech and partici-

pated in a panel discus-sion on the theme " The

positioning of travelunit and tourism in

global frames", repre-senting the tourist in-dustry of Montenegro,development strategy

of the tourism, its adap-tation to current

processes of the kindin the world, and, above

all, underlining eco-nomic and ecological

crisis.

MINISTER NENEZICGIVES A GOODBYE

RECEPTION TO BRITISHAMBASSADOR

KEVIN LINE

During the talks, Minister Nenezic expressed his gratitudeto the ambassador Line for his efforts in a two-year mis-sion during which very prolific and auspicious tourist co-operation between Montenegro and Great Britain wasmade.

Moreover, the Minister presented the ambassador with theresults of this year’s tourist season (which show the in-crease in the rate of British tourists by 8%).

He assessed that the continuation of that positive trendwould undoubtedly happen, especially because the Britishtour-operator Thomson put direct charter flights to Mon-tenegro in his brochure for 2010. Ambassador Line re-vealed his positive impressions about the dynamic leap ofMontenegro towards a viable tourist destination of highestquality, about the country’s development on the whole, aswell as with the results of this year’s tourist season, whichshowed the positive trend of rise, despite the current crisis.

Furthermore, he expressed confidence that such develop-ment will be achieved in the future as well, with the supportof Great Britain and other European partners.

Minister Nenezic expressed his wish that the ambassadormight have a lot of success on his new post in future.

November 2009

4.

MINISTER OF TOURISM,PREDRAG NENEZIC,

GIVES RECEPTION TOTHE AMBASSADOR OF

AUSTRIA, MARTINPAMER

Minister of tourism, Predrag Nenezic, gave reception tothe newly-appointed residential ambassador of Austria,Mr Martin Pamer. During their talks, Minister Nenezic pre-sented the ambassador Pamer with the current situationin Montenegro tourism, with planned investments andprojects for the coastal and northern part of Montenegro,alongside with the trends and plans defined by the Strat-egy of tourism development until 2020. He also made theambassador familiar with functioning and the results ofthis summer tourist season and the income of Austriantourists during it.

The ambassador expressed pleasure and honour abouthis new post of the ambassador in Montenegro, andpointed out Austria`s interest in further strengthening ofpartnership and intensification of sensible, prolific andmany- sides co-operation of the two countries in the fieldof tourism. He assessed this tourist season`s results anddynamic development of Montenegro towards the viabletourist destination positively. Besides, he expressed hisreadiness to put personal efforts into contribution to draw-ing Austrian tourist investors` attention to Montenegro,concluding that the northern part of the country has ahuge natural potential for summer and winter tourism.

Minister Nenezic and the ambassador Pamer expressedconfidence that the successful tourist co-operation thathas been achieved so far will indisputably continue and in-tensify through mutual projects, thriving towards out-standing tourist valorization of Montenegro in theforeseeable future.

November 2009

5.

ŽABLJAK

Minister Nenezic and his co-workers visited Zabljak onbusiness on 4th November. The representatives of Zabl-jak`s tourist industry also attended the meeting. The pres-ident of the municipality of Zabljak, Isailo Sljivancanin,reminded the authorities of this municipality`s priorities,that basically refer to the progressive tourist valorizationand development. Besides, he underlined the significanceof road Risan- Zabljak, and the importance of communalinfrastructure projects, which were implemented in Zabljakin 2008 and 2009. Having mentioned the building of thenew, small hotels with four stars categorization, he ex-pressed the hope that the reconstruction of those hotelswould have been finished in the shortest possible time, andthat two new hotels would be built. The implementation ofspatial planning documents is expected by the end of theyear, which would make Zabljak one of the first municipal-ities, besides Tivat, to accept the model of spatial planning.

During his speech, Minister Nenezic pointed out the dis-tinguished position of Zabljak among other destinationsfrom Montenegro tourist display, additionally underlining

the exceptional results of the previous season, despite thetwilight of global crisis, putting emphasize on the positivegrowth of tourist circulation which Zabljak noted duringsummer months

The Minister presented the representatives of tourist indus-try with the work of Coordination Body for preparation andevaluation of tourist seasons, whose chairman is the PrimeMinister, which takes aim at the creation of road, power and

infrastructural conditions for the feasibility of the forthcomingwinter season. He particularly emphasized the project of themaster plan for the viable development of Zabljak municipal-ity (being undertaken in collaboration with the Government ofItaly), which would make the ideal ambiance for rapid invest-ment projects, alongside with the spatial planning.

In relation to issues regarding ski-center Durmitor, the Min-ister emphasized continual activities of the ministry, realizedthrough communication with the adequate legal authorities,and expressed hope that the solution to the issue would befound, despite the complicated procedure. In accordance toall legal permissions, the ski- centre will be available thisyear, and the Minister gave a hint that another ski- center isto be opened, considering the fact that the temporary ca-pacities do not cover the necessities.

The Minister offered support to tourist industry of Zabljakmunicipality, and cooperation with the banks, aiming at theconvenient credit lines. They also discussed the more strictinspection control and the appointment of tourism inspectorfor Zabljak municipality, which certainly would contribute tothe boost of local budget, especially through charging with

tourist and residential taxes. Furthermore, he supportedthe strong initiative of entrepreneurs in Zabljak, and an-nounced intense promotional activities on regional mar-kets, waiting for the next winter.

PLAV AND ROŽAJE

The Minister of tourism, Predrag Nenezic, and his co-workers paid business visit to Plav and Rozaje, ac-cording to regular activities for preparation of theforthcoming winter tourist season.

During the visit to Plav, he met the president of this mu-nicipality, Skender Sarkinovic, his co-workers, and therepresentatives of the tourist industry. On the occasion,the president Sarkinovic pointed out the importance ofdeclaration of the mountain range Prokletije as the fifth

national park in Montenegro, assuming that the tourist val-orization would contribute a lot to the continuation of Plavmunicipality tourist valorization at the same time. He also in-formed the Minister and his co-workers about the activitiesbeing realized at the territory of this municipality, which interalia include the development of strategic plan for Plav mu-nicipality and strategies of viable development, in accor-dance with the master plan of Montenegro development until2020.

MINISTER OF TOURISM, PREDRAG NENEZIC, VISITSTHE FOLLOWING MUNICIPALITIES

November 2009

6.

Alongside with the tourist project,infrastructural and communalproject, which represent thestandpoint and condition for thesuccessful manifestation oftourist projects, are being real-ized. The president of Plav mu-nicipality underlined the necessityof developing spatial urban proj-ect for the Prokletije, which ismajor condition for keepingstrategic investment partners in-terested. He also insisted on theopening of Murino- Cakor- Pecroad, as well as the marking ofboundary line, that is being usedby considerable amount oftourists entering Montenegro.The representatives of tourist in-dustry introduced three new and modern hotel-lodging ob-jects and their capacities to Minister Nenezic, and gave himinsight into challenges they are coming across. In addition,they asked for support of the Ministry of Tourism and NTO.During the meeting, Minister Nenezić informed representa-tives of the Municipality and tourism of Plav about the pri-orities of the Government of Montenegro, and one of themost important ones is the development of tourism and agri-culture in the north. The Minister also stressed the impor-tance of the largest state project, the construction of thehighway for accessibility of Plav to both tourists and in-vestors. He pointed out that in addition to transportation ac-cessibility, spatial plans and legal security are theprecondition for serious investments and he promised sup-port of the Ministry of Tourism and the Government to at-

tracting strategic partners to Plav. The Minister expressedpleasure about positive trend of rise concerning the sojournsduring tourist season, supported the initiative for opening theroad Murino- Cakor- Pec, and specially stressed the impor-tance of the Prokletije`s declaration as the national park. Be-sides, they made an agreement to improve the co-operationbetween the tourist inspection and local inspections incharge, so as to devise the strategic range, accommodationcapacities, as well as physical and financial indicators.

Sasa Radovic, the director of NTO, underlined the good coor-dination with recently established local tourist organization,and suggested Plav to be a pilot- project for bed& bike stan-dards, within Hiking& Biking project. After the visit to Plav, theMinister and his co-workers visited Rozaje, and during the talkwith the Mayor Nusret Kalac, found out something more about

November 2009

7.

the project implemented thanks to the Government support,about the positive trend of entrepreneurs` initiative for hotel-lodging businesses and complementary activities. The Mayorof Rozaje municipality, Kalac, informed the Minister that he ex-pected the implementation of spatial planning documents atleast in a year`s time, which is the vital proposition for furtherdevelopment of the town and its tourism, and that he kindlyasks for support of Government and the Ministry of tourism.Moreover, he expected the support for getting the spatial plan-ning documents for the Mount Hajla.

The Mayor’s co-workers announced that Rozaje is in avail ofover 350 categorized beds, that the quality of service hasbeen improved, and that the promotional activities with thehelp of NTO are being done according to expected plans. Minister Nenezic expressed contentment with the positivetrend of development, entrepreneur initiative and good co-operation with Rozaje, and promised toenable all necessary spatial planningdocuments and support developmentproject, with the aim of drawing in-vestors` attention.

BERANE AND ANDRIJEVICA

The Minister of tourism, PredragNenezic, and his co-workers paid busi-ness visit to Berane and Andrijevica, on18th November, to become familiar withcurrent and planned projects of develop-ment directly, and to assess the prob-lems and challenges they come acrossin the field of tourism, as well as to informthe local representatives about currenttrends and plans in tourism of Montene-gro in general.

During the meeting in Berane, the Mayor, Vuka Golubovic,expressed contentment because of the visit, emphasizing itssignificance for the more efficient preparation during the ex-pectation of the forthcoming winter tourist season. He in-formed the Minister and his co-workers that this municipalityis following the line of rise, considering the development oftourism, but that there is still a lot of space for improvement,taking many natural resources and potentials that Beraneowns into account. The amount of accommodation capaci-ties has been considerably increased, the new hotel with fourstars categorization and 50 beds has been opened, such asthe great number of restaurants with national cuisine ofrecognition, the mountaineers` home in village Kurikuce hasalso been opened and put into work, and there are intentionsof opening the airport, situated at the foot of The Mount Bje-lasica. The airport would considerably contribute to the aus-picious tourist base and future of this municipality. Alongside,the Minister got the information that the ski-center Lokvewould be opened, if the weather turns out to be beneficial,and that the roads to The Mount Lokve would be kept clearand maintained adequately.

Minister Nenezic expressed the confidence that this munici-pality is following a good course and direction, when it comesto tourism, and pointed out that during the previous periodmany efforts had been put into enabling the ideal conditionsfor the development of this branch, to begin with the com-

munal and roads infrastructure, investing in electric sys-tem, as well as the important projects such as building theplace for dropping the litter in accordance with sanitarystandards and so on. He particularly emphasized the cru-cial importance of finishing the plan especially devised forthe territory of The Mount Bjelasica and The Mount Ko-movi, as it would have the impact on the development ofBerane proper ( considering the fact that a greater deal ofthis mountain belongs exactly to above mentioned munic-ipality. The Minister assessed that Berane has a great po-tential of becoming the regional center, considering thesummer and winter tourism, despite the fact that the touristindustry of the town is still small and undeveloped, and thatthe accommodation capacities are under the expectations.The light at the end of the tunnel might lie in reactivation ofthe airport, so he promised that the Government and Min-istry of Tourism will give the municipality a full support.

At the meeting with the representatives of Andrijevica mu-nicipality, the issues on mountain tourism, hunting, generaldevelopment and valorization of The Mount Bjelasica andThe Mount Komovi potential were discussed. Additionally,they discussed the building of ski-centre, as well as the ob-stacles that local representatives of tourism industry comeacross. The chief administrator of Andrijevica municipality,Milovan Culafic, expressed the willingness and readinessof local government to co-operate with the Ministry oftourism, so as the find the easiest and most appropriateway of solving the problems.

Moreover, they discussed the development of wintertourism on The Mount Stavna, where the tourist village withthe capacity of 50 beds has been built, and the construc-tion of ski lift, which would connect this mountain with theski-centre Jezerine. The Minister estimated that The An-drijevica municipality expressed a complete awareness ofthe necessity of tourism development, as well as usefulideas which might be valorized. He also underlined that thepotential of this municipality lies in spatial planning modelfor The Mount Bjelasica and the Mount Komovi. Finally, headded that it is essential for the Government and local au-thorities to implement a series of mutual projects, with thesupport of donors and investors, as soon as possible,which is the basic condition to make the local tourism andtourist industry viable.

November 2009

8.

The campaign “Register Accommodation” is imple-mented by the Ministry of Tourism in cooperation withthe Tax Administration, six coastal municipalities andKolašin and Žabljak municipalities. The campaign isaimed at informing those who rent accommodation fa-cilities with the simplified procedure of for registeringaccommodation by private entities. A private entity, whoprovides accommodation services, with only two docu-ment: title deed and exploitation permit or electricity cer-tificate, submits to the competent municipal authority(Secretariat) a request for issuing Work Permit. Thecompetent municipality authority is obliged to issue theWork Permit and categorize accommodation capacitiesin maximum 14 days. The procedure for issuing thePermit and categorization is also consolidated into asingle procedure. According to the Law on Tourism, aprivate entity may rent to guests rooms, apartments andholiday houses owned by such entity or if such entity holdthe right of use, up to maximum 7 rooms, 15 beds re-spectively.

After obtaining the Work Permit, the lessor of accommo-dation submits a request for lump sum taxation with thecompetent tax authority. Namely, the 2005 Regulation onlump sum taxation of income generated by independentactivity, provision of services of tourist accommodationis classified as group II of tax payers. This means thatthe business costs of tax payers fromthis group are acknowledged in the totalturnover of 65% of the total turnover, andtax payers are, subject to plannedturnover, classified into four sub-groups(up to 5000 €, up to 10000€, up to15000€ and up to 18000 €).

This implies that lessor of accommodation, whoseplanned income is up to 5000 €, on monthly basis, basedon taxes and contribution, pays around 77.97 € (for a pri-vate entity pensioner or a person who is engaged in this

as an additional activity), up to 109 € (for private entitieswho are engaged in this as their main activity). The char-acteristic of this activity is seasonality and it is importantto stress that the lessor of accommodation makes pay-

ments only for months in which this activity is performed.

Advantage of registration, in addition to the simplified proce-dure, is that offers of all registered lessors of private accom-modation are published in catalogues which are presented onlocal and international fairs. Also, detailed information aboutregistered lessors of accommodation, their offers respectively,are presented on sites, and there is an option of “online” book-ing of accommodation by the NTO web portal. The presenta-tion of this segment of offer is very important if we have inmind that a substantial percentage of the overall structure of

offered accommodation capacities relates to accommodationservices in complementary forms of accommodation.

At the beginning of winter tourist season, we decided to invitelessors of accommodation and informthem about options for registering ac-commodation and benefits it offers. Onthe other hand, we must point out thatthere will be intensified controls byTourist Inspectorate, tax and local com-

munal police/inspections, and penalties for performing suchactivities, without a permit and with no registration with thecompetent tax authority, are high and amount to around 1000€ for private entities and around 3.500 € for legal entities.

ACTIVITIES IN THE LAST MONTH

THE SECRETARY TO THE MINISTRY OF TOURISM,ŽELJKA RADAK KUKAVIČIĆ, HOLDS A PRESS

BRIEFING ON THE CONTINUATION OF THE CAMPAIGNREGISTER ACCOMMODATION

The campaign “Register Accommodation” is implemented by the Min-istry of Tourism in cooperation with the Tax Administration, sixcoastal municipalities and Kolašin and Žabljak municipalities.

This implies that lessor of accommodation, whose planned income isup to 5000 €, on monthly basis, based on taxes and contribution, paysaround 77.97 € (for a private entity pensioner or a person who is en-

gaged in this as an additional activity), up to 109 € (for private entitieswho are engaged in this as their main activity).

November 2009

9.

PRESS BRIEFING HELD ON THE WINTER TOURISTSEASON 2009-2010

SPOKESPERSON OF THE MINISTRY OF TOURISM, JELENA PAOVIĆ, HELD APRESS CONFERENCE ON THE NEXT TOURIST SEASON.

The Ministry of Tourism, in cooperation with the NTO, municipalities, public enterprises, competent ministries and touristeconomy, is preparing intensively the next winter tourist season and promoting it at the same time, primarily on markets inthe region. The coordination body which is chaired by the President of the Government is having regular sessions everymonth and continuously coordinates activities of all parties in order to have this year’s winter tourist season well-preparedand implemented in undisturbed conditions.

Tourist municipalities of Montenegro, and especially municipal-ities in the north, implement a number of activities which are re-lated to improving of communal infrastructure, roadinfrastructure in cooperation with the Crnagoraput Company,providing undisturbed power supply, and activities aimed at rais-ing the quality of conditions of stay in tourist places, which alsoimplies designing of numerous cultural-entertaining programmesof local tourist organizations for both New Year and Christmasholidays, and during winter months.

Hotel keepers and lessors of private accommodation are aboutto complete preparing their facilities so that everything is readyby mid next month for arrival of first guests this tourist season.

The new modernized ski resort Kolasin 1450, which is equippedin line with the world standards, will be functioning and availablefor tourists, as well as ski centre Savin kuk in Žabljak, ski cen-tre Vučje near Nikšić and ski centre Lokve in Berane. The Min-istry of Tourism and the National Tourist Organization statedpromoting Montenegrin tourist offer, especially of the northernregion of Montenegro and ski centres, on the market of the re-gion.

In those terms, the press group from Macedonia visited Mon-tenegro, and press groups from Serbia, B&H and Albania willvisit Montenegro in December. The National Tourist Organizationof Montenegro, in cooperation with tourist representative officesin Belgrade and Sarajevo, and with the Embassy of Montenegroin Tirana, will organize one-day promotional presentation inthese towns in the first half of December, and the presentationwill be related to promoting the New Year programmes andevents in the following months.

In parallel with the promotion in the region, tourist offer of ourski centres will be promoted strongly in Montenegro as well, hav-ing in mind that increasing number of guests from the coastaland central regions of Montenegro chooses to spend holidays inski centres.

The plan of promotional activities will involve PR activities aswell and media presentations through interviews, coverage, ad-ditions and articles in the most important regional printed mediaand broadcasting of promotional clip in electronic media, all

ACTIVITIES IN THE LAST MONTH

PRESS BRIEFING HELDON DEVELOPMENT ANDPROGRESS OF SMALL

HOTELS IN MONTENEGRO

Advisor for hospitality and the President of the Com-mission for categorization Ferdinand Wieland gave apresentation on the development and progress of smallhotels in Montenegro. He pointed out that a legal frame-work was established in Montenegro in 2003 for smalland garni hotels, and between 30 and 45 million EURwas invested in them. During this period, 72 new, smallhotels were built, while 30 hotels were redesigned.

Representatives of the Ministry of Tourism claim thatten small hotels were opened this year holding cate-gories from three to five stars. - Small hotels allow localinvestments, family business, new employment oppor-tunities, stimulate local construction sector, and using oflocal products -

The Ministry considers that activities aimed at devel-opment of tourist accommodation are successfully im-plemented in Montenegro.

November 2009

10..

aimed at improved sales. There is a planfor the winter campaign “Take a deepbreath” on RTS, Pink Serbia and PinkB&H.

Call centre 1300 will be functional andavailable 24h/day and tourists can use itto get all information, complain, objectand commend.

In cooperation with local tourist organi-zations and tourist economy of wintercentres, NTO will organize programmesand events this year as well, which areaimed at improved offer on all ski trails,which will contribute to extended stays oftourists on ski trails and related facilities,and animation programmes in city cen-tres and hotel-hospitality facilities aswell.

Activities will be further promoted forfamilies and tourists who do not spend time on snowonly for skiing and snow boarding, but want to practicesome less demanding activities, the so-called softsports, such as snowshoeing, Nordic skiing, alpine tourskiing, etc.

In order to ensure safe and undisturbed implementa-tion of this winter tourist season, tourist inspection will

strengthen its activities in the north of Montenegro in the fol-lowing months for the purpose of protecting tourists and en-suring their safe stay in Montenegro. Activities of touristinspection will be aimed at controlling ski resorts, private ac-commodation facilities, hotels and hospitality facilities andtourist agencies.

The campaign “Register Accommodation” will continue inorder to have as many lessors of privateaccommodation as possible registered,which will substantially improve businessoperations, make them more efficient andmore profitable and avoid penalties for il-legal business operations, and on theother hand, they will be included in allchannels of promotion and sales, and af-firmed by local and National Tourist Or-ganizations.

Having in mind that this winter season isimplemented in the conditions of currentglobal financial and economic crisis, it isimportant to remind that business policyshould be adjusted to current situation,improve the quality, adjust prices to de-mand and maintain image and attractive-ness of Montenegro for the years to comeafter the economic crisis. It is especiallyimportant to improve services in ski cen-tres and hospitality facilities, because thewhole of 2010 is declared to be the yearof good service in all segments of touristoffer.

The estimation and the projection saysthat this winter tourist season will be im-plemented as the previous one, and gen-erate physical and financial turnover inline with the last year’s.

Tourist municipalities of Montenegro, and especially municipalities inthe north, implement a number of activities which are related to im-

proving of communal infrastructure, road infrastructure in cooperationwith the Crnagoraput Company, providing undisturbed power supply,

and activities aimed at raising the quality of conditions of stay intourist places, which also implies designing of numerous cultural-en-

tertaining programmes of local tourist organizations for both New Yearand Christmas holidays, and during winter months.

ACTIVITIES IN THE LAST MONTH

November 2009

11.

TOURIST OFFER OF MONTENEGRO PRESENTED ONINTERNATIONAL TOURIST MARKET

WTM IN LONDON

The National Tourist Organi-zation of Montenegro, in coop-eration with the Ministry ofTourism, strategic partnersand tourist economy, pre-sented the offer of Montene-grin tourism on internationaltourist market “World TravelMarket” (WTM), which washeld in London in the periodNovember 9-12 of this year.For the purpose of maintainingand improving relations withjournalists from this market,the Director of the NationalTourist Organization Saša Radović held a press brief-ing where he presented tourist offer of Montenegro, de-velopments in current and forthcoming development ofMontenegrin tourism, development priorities in theforthcoming period, and emphasized sustainable de-velopment, MICE and wellness offers of hotels.

At the same time, Minister Nenezić and DirectorRadović gave a number of interviews during the Fair torepresentatives of the most important British media(BBC, National Geographic/Sky News, CNN,Travel Chanel, Eurosport, Euronews), and hada number of meetings with partners, represen-tatives of tour-operators and investors, who ex-pressed interest to invest in Montenegrineconomy, primarily in tourism.

Under activities Montenegro Convention Bu-reau during this Fair, a number of meetingswere scheduled with specialized agencies forMICE tourism, and with numerous media for the pur-pose of the best possible promotion of this offer inMontenegro, because this form of tourism will be af-fected the most by economic crisis. At the same time,interest for hiking and biking in Montenegro is ex-tremely high, and a number of specialized agencies forthis type of offer visited the stand of Montenegro dur-ing these three days.

Representatives of strategic partners of the Ministry ofTourism and NTO MNE were present on the Montene-grin stand: Hotel “The Queen of Montenegro”, “Bep-pler & Jacobson“, Hotel Group “Budvanska Rivijera”,Montenegro Airlines, and representatives of touristeconomy: Hotels Group “Montenegro Stars”, HotelMaestral, tourist agencies “Adriatic Express”, and local

tourist organizations: TOBudva and TO Kotor.

The British, who are inter-ested to spend their holidaynext year in Montenegro, canmake bookings with tour-op-erators and tourist agencies“Thomson”, “Holiday Op-tions”, “Balkan Holidays”,“Saga Holidays”, “Inghams”,“Bosmere Travel”, “OriginalTravel”, “Cosmos”, “MercianTravel Centar”, ”Regent Hol-idays”, “Adriatic Adventures”,

“Exodus”, “So Montenegro”, “Concord Travel” and “CroatiaTours”. The increase in the number of tourists from the marketof the Great Britain is obvious this year as well. According toofficial statistical data, around 12.500 tourists from the GreatBritain visited Montenegro by the end of September, who re-alized 68.500 overnights, which by around 8% more than inthe same period 2008. The national airline company “Mon-tenegro Airlines” will offer next year three to four flights a weekfrom London/Gatwick to Montenegro, and there are an-nouncements that one of the biggest British tour-operators“Thomson” will open a charter line from this market.

This most important and the biggest world tourist market gath-ered around 5.000 exhibitors from more than 200 countries ofthe world. This year, it was attended by around 50.000 pro-fessionals in the field of tourism from around the world, 48%from the Great Britain and 52% from other countries. The mar-ket is visited by a large number of media companies everyyear, and more than 2.500 media representatives visited it thisyear.

Also, this year’s International Tourist Market WTM was at-tended by high representatives of the countries around theworld, managers of famous world companies, famous eco-nomic analytics and entrepreneurs who have already startedtheir businesses or plan to expand existing business in centraland Eastern Europe, and in Montenegro as well.

Minister Nenezić and Director Radović gave a number of inter-views during the Fair to representatives of the most important

British media (BBC, National Geographic/Sky News, CNN, TravelChanel, Eurosport, Euronews), and had a number of meetingswith partners, representatives of tour-operators and investors,who expressed interest to invest in Montenegrin economy, pri-

marily in tourism.

ACTIVITIES IN THE LAST MONTH

November 2009

12.

Montenegro presented itself for the first time on the WorldSummit for adventure travels, which was held October 19-22in Quebec, Canada. More than 500 leaders in travel indus-try and representatives of media, organizations, govern-ments and associations from 53 countries gathered todiscuss trends in sustainable travel and global changes.

This gathering provides leadership for seven years now inrelation to matters such as sustainable tourism in developingdestinations, cooperation in the chain of offers, marketing onthe internet and in social media, standards, the best prac-tice, volunteerism, and much more.

As a lead innovative platform on the market, this also offersnew relations between business players and media relations,this meeting proved to be precious for Montenegro as a de-veloping destination, whose tourism development strategyis based on sustainability.

“Having in mind the sources of the most modern knowledgeand experiences which it offers to Montenegrin tourist agen-cies, membership in the Adventure Travel Trade Organiza-tion (ATTA) – which currently has 500 companies from 56countries as its members – would be the next logical step”,said Mrs. Kirsi Hyvaerinen, Advisor to the National TouristOrganization of Montenegro.

New partnerships were established in Quebec, as well as onthe Far and various round table meetings which were at-tended by leading North American tour-operators in adven-ture travels, media and specialized researches in the field ofsustainable, nature-based and culture-based travels.

The next Summit will be held in Scotland October 4-7 2010.A week after that, selected tour-operators and media repre-sentatives will be proposed to go for a study tour to Mon-tenegro. The USAID STARS programme committed tosupport this initiative.

Montenegrin tourist agencies and media who are interested

in learning more about theWorld Summit of Adven-ture Travels 2009 and2010 and possibilities forfuture participation cancontact NTO by e-mail:info@montenegro.traveland see the following doc-uments available at theweb portal: www.mon-tenegro.travel, as wellas:

- Montenegro presen-tation leaflet ATWS2009, supported byUSAID STARS

- Wilderness Hiking - 9areas, 2 long distance trails

- Wilderness Biking - Top Trails - 5 roundtrip ideas- Wilderness Biking Guide – new roadbook to 17 trails- Press release ATTA on product and marketing strate-

gies 2010 (Adventure Travel Tour Operator Studyavailable at: http://www.adventuretravelworldsum-mit.com/press_releases/09/atws_pr_101509.pdf

The data on the Adventure Travel Trade Association(ATTA): founded in 1990, with headquarters in Seattle,ATTA (www.adventuretravel.biz ) is a global membershiporganization dedicated to unification, networking, profes-sional development, promoting and responsible growth ofthe market of adventure travels.

The Adventure Travel World Summit www.adventuretrav-elworldsummit.com hosted every year by the AdventureTravel Trade Association ensures existence of the globalcommunity in the field of adventure travels with the onlymost influential, most creative and most productive gather-ing of management and strategic staff.

The Summit gathers diverse levels of this industry with thepurpose of networking, cooperation, and more effective andquicker use of increasingly rich potentials of adventuretravel. ATTA also enables functioning of the internet ad-dress www.Adventure.

Travel, which is used as a contact centres for travellers forphysically active, cultural and adventure nature-based trav-els, and as a guide to reliable tour-operators worldwide.

TOURIST OFFER OF MONTENEGRO PRESENTED ONTHE WORLD MARKET OF ADVENTURE TRAVELS,

QUEBEC, OCTOBER 2009

Montenegro presented it-self for the first time on

the World Summit for ad-venture travels, which

was held October 19-22in Quebec, Canada. Morethan 500 leaders in travelindustry and representa-tives of media, organiza-tions, governments and

associations from 53countries gathered todiscuss trends in sus-

tainable travel and globalchanges.

ACTIVITIES IN THE LAST MONTH

November 2009

13.

NATIONAL TOURIST ORGANIZATIONS OF ALL EX YUCOUNTRIES IN SLOVENIA PARTICIPATE ON THEROUND TABLE ON “JOINT TOURIST OFFER ON EUROPEAN AND GLOBAL TOURIST MARKETS”

November 3, 2009 – The National Tourist Organization of Montenegro represented by Maja Liješević, Deputy Di-rector, participated on the round table meeting which was organized by the Tourist Organization of Slovenia

within the “7.Tour Ex Yu Market” in Laško-Slovenia on “Joint tourist offer on European and global tourist markets”.

Participants of the roundtable meeting were highrepresentatives of Na-tional Tourist Organiza-tions of the region, i.e. allcountries of former Yu-goslavia. The round tablewas the place for ex-changing opinions anddiscussing numerous op-portunities in relation to:intensifying tourist cooper-ation through continuationand establishing newforms of both bilateral andregional cooperation;transfer of knowledge andexchange of experiences;status and opportunities for improving comparativeadvantages of this region and, in those terms, op-portunities for applying regional projects with the EUinstitutions; opportunities of joint promotional ap-pearances on distant, i.e. out of Europe markets,and the joint conclusion of participants was that re-gional networking and cooperation were extremelyimportant. In those terms, projects were presentedas well as principle agreements which include Mon-tenegro as well when it comes to joint regional ap-pearance on markets of China, India, Japan, etc., and turningthem into specific actions should be performed in the followingperiod.

On behalf of the host, the work was participated by MarjanHribar, Director of the Tourism Directorate under the Ministryof Economy of Slovenia and Dimitrij Piciga, Director of theTourist organization of Slovenia, then Šemsudin Džeko, Pres-ident of the Tourist Association of B&H, Tihomir Ljubojević, Di-rector of the Tourist Organization of the Republic of Srpska,Maja Liješević, Deputy Director of the NTO of Montenegro,Goran Blažić, Director of the representative office of CroatianTourist Organization in Slovenia, Ljiljana Čerović from theTourist Organization of Serbia and Armir Ramadani from theAgency for Promotion of Macedonia. The round table wasmoderated by Drago Bulc, President of the Association ofTourist Journalists of Slovenia and a member of ExecutiveBoard of the World Organization of Tourist Journalists FIJET,a journalist and editor of the programme on tourism on RTVSlovenia. The idea and initiative to join and include tourist jour-

nalists from other countries ofthe region was presentedunder the topic of the roundtable.

Maja Liješević, Deputy Direc-tor of NTO MNE, amongother things, pointed out thattourism should primarily, andit already does establish linksin the region and former Yu-goslavia countries given theimportance, possible forms ofcooperation and interests of

each country. In theyear of ongoingeconomic crisis,tourist turnover inEurope, accordingto data of the Euro-pean Tourism andTravel Council -ETC, demonstratesa total negativetrend of -8.4%, andpositive examples,according toachieved results in

tourism in 2009, are Island, Sweden, Hungary, Serbia, Mace-donia and Montenegro, and these examples include a numberof countries of the region we belong to. Development oftourism in Montenegro is based on principles of sustainability,and when applied to all countries of the region provides op-portunities for additional joint positioning, especially on mar-kets outside Europe, and for creating and developing specificjoint projects in tourism.

The round table of National Tourist Organization was held dur-ing the 7. Tour Ex YU Tourism Market which used to held threetime in Bosnia and Herzegovina and three times in Macedo-nia in the organization of the “Tri M” Company from Novi Sad,and this year it was co-organized with the Hotel Enterprise“Termana” from Laško and the Tourist Organization of Slove-nia and for the first time in Slovenia. In order to concretize proj-ects and establish new contacts, the Market gathered morethan 80 participants, representatives of tourist sector from allEx YU countries: hotel enterprises, tourist agencies, organi-zations, associations, other companies and institutions.

ACTIVITIES IN THE LAST MONTH

November 2009

14.

Montenegro Convention Bureau, which is a part of the NationalTourist Organization of Montenegro, in cooperation with theNTO representative office in Frankfurtand “Montenegro Stars Hotel Group”,presented MICE (Meetings, Incentives,Conferences/Congresses and Events)offer of Montenegro on the Roadshowin Germany. Besides Montenegro, an-other 6 European countries participatedin the Roadshow.

The goal of the Roadshow is primarilyrelated to very important meetings withGerman clients, and exchange of ex-periences and ideas through interac-tive forum discussion between otherparticipating destinations and learningabout the most recent trends on theMICE market.

On November 17, a presentation was held in prestigious Hotel“Sofitel” in Munich. During the presentation, representatives ofMontenegro held a number of meetings with managers oflarge companies from this market, organizers of meetings andconferences, and incentive agencies. This was an opportu-nity for everyone interested to learn about the MICE offer ofMontenegro.

In addition to representatives of the Montenegro ConventionBureau and the representative office in Frankfurt, “Montene-gro Stars Hotel Group” also presented its offer on the Road-show. A large number of visitors were especially interested inthe Hotel “Splendid Conference & Spa Resort” which hasmodern conference amenities of the capacity of up to 800seats. The Hotel “Splendid” was nominated this year for theWorld Travel Awards in the category of European conferenceresorts, which certainly shows that the conference amenitiesof this Hotel is at the same level as the prestigious hotels inthe world. Interested German clients had a number of re-quirements for organizing meetings in this Hotel.

Participating in such eventsis one of promotional activ-ities which will be organizedon this market by Montene-grin tourist representativeoffice in Frankfurt and theMontenegro ConventionBureau, for the purpose ofattracting this very impor-tant market not only to visitMontenegro during summerseason, but out of seasonas well through MICE offer,

i.e. through the opportunity to organize important meet-ings, incentive travels and companies of larger companies.

The last presentation of the MICE(Meetings, Incentives, Confer-ences/Congresses and Events)offer of Montenegro was held inCologne on November 19. Duringthese three days, the tourist offerof Montenegro was presented inMunich, Frankfurt and Cologne.”During meetings on the Road-show, interested organizers ofconferences and meetings, andincentive agencies pointed outthat advantage of Montenegrowas the vicinity of large emissivemarkets, because meetings inthe current financial situation are

rarely organized on distant markets (America, Asia orAfrica), and new markets in Europe are increasinglysought; however, it is also necessary to improve airline ac-cessibility of our country, not only from this but from otherimportant markets as well, and to adjust prices of servicesto the current situation on the market. At the same time, in-terested clients showed specific interest for combined stayin out country, combination of sea and mountains which isvery easy to organize in our country. Having in mind im-portance of this market and from the aspect of organizingconferences and seminars, the representative office of theNTO of MNE in Frankfurt and the Montenegro ConventionBureau will organize early next year a study tour for im-portant organizers of meetings and conferences. On thatoccasion, they will have an opportunity to directly learnwith the MICE offer and to meet with hotel-keepers andspecialized agencies on our market. Similar actions willcontinue to be implemented on this market, and the pres-ence of other hotels and agencies from our market is ex-pected” pointed out Danica Ćeranić, Director ofMontenegro Convention Bureau.

Director of the NTO representative office in Frankfurt,Karlo Petelin pointed out that German market is extremelyimportant, and that German tourists are very demandingand have a huge choice of destinations, and that is why allof us need to invest a lot of efforts to make Montenegrocompetitive and to have at least 30% of the total numberof tourist from Germany soon. “The NTO representativeoffice in Frankfurt does everything it can to bring Mon-tenegro again closer to Germans and convince them thatwe are good hosts, that we have good hotels, sea andclean beaches, fantastic natural beauties, that we arestrong and competitive when it comes to MICE offer, which

MICE OFFER OF MONTENEGRO PRESENTED DURINGTHE ROADSHOW IN GERMANY

ACTIVITIES IN THE LAST MONTH

The goal of the Roadshowis primarily related to veryimportant meetings withGerman clients, and ex-

change of experiences andideas through interactive

forum discussion betweenother participating destina-

tions and learning aboutthe most recent trends on

the MICE market.

November 2009

15.

is confirmed by high interest on the Roadshow. As for holiday tourism, it is very important that Montenegro has a charterline from the market of Germany. The representative office of Montenegro is currently negotiating with the DRV (GermanAssociation of tour-operators and tourist agencies) theholding of its Annual Assembly in the next two years inour country. The country who is the host of this As-sembly brings the elite of German tourism and this is avery important step for further visits of larger groups ofGerman tourists. At the same time, after several meet-ings in the past period, and the meeting which was heldduring the Roadshow with the “Berge&Meer” tour-op-erator, it was confirmed that this tour-operator will pre-pare programmes for Montenegro as well as of nextyear”, stated Petelin.

According to Vesne Popović, Head of Sales of “Mon-tenegro Stars Hotel Group”, German market for this HotelGroup is significant not only from the MICE aspect butfrom the aspect of holiday tourism as well, and it will pro-mote intensively its offer on this market in the future.

More information can be found at www.red-table.info.

ACTIVITIES IN THE LAST MONTH

PRESS CONFERENCE HELD ON AWARDING OF PRESTIGIOUS ANNUAL AWARDS IN TOURISM ''WILD

BEAUTY AWARDS – WBA 2009''

A press conference was held on November 27 in the premises of the Na-tional Tourist Organization of Montenegro on awarding annual award intourism “Wild Beauty Award 2009”. Matea Matan, associate in the NTO, pre-sented the clip to the present journalists, which invites al interested players,private and legal entities to involve and give their contribution by filling outonline questionnaire on web site www.wba.montenegro.travel under the of-ficial site of the National Tourist Organization of Montenegro. The public in-vitation for submitting proposals for nominations according to establishedcategories lasted until November 30.

After compiling of received nominations in ten categories with more thantwenty sub-categories, four Selection Committees, which were established by the Council for awarding prizes accordingto the Regulation on awarding prizes, will create a list with a short list of candidates. After that, the list will be forwardedto the Council and Professional Jury for awarding prizes for final decision.The Council involves representatives of the Ministry of Tourism, the Government of Montenegro, regular professors of theFaculty of Tourism and hospitality, the Architecture Faculty, Montenegrin Tourist Association, and media representatives.

Associate in the National Tourist Organization, Ljiljana Ćetković-Maraš, pointed out that the NTO is satisfied with the re-sponse so far of both broad public i.e. individuals and professional public, and that contributions and proposals are sentby local tourist organizations as well, by the CTU, and other institutions. Having in mind current financial situation, withinmeasures of savings and rationalization of expenditures, awarding annual awards in tourism this year will be organized

in a more modest but not less ceremonial level.

Award of this prestigious acknowledgement is organized for the fifth year in a row under the aus-pices of the President of Montenegro, and organized by the Ministry of Tourism and the NationalTourist Organization of Montenegro. The award of annual award is aimed at affirming of tourismsector, improving the quality and competition in tourism sector, and improving image of tourism ofMontenegro both in Montenegro and in the region and on emissive markets.

November 2009

16.

Chinese “Gootrip”, which is considered to be one of the mostprestigious Chinese tourist magazines published in 400 000copies, published a very affirmative article about Montene-gro.

The text is titled “Recommendation for a holiday: sandybeaches and mountain climbing” and it describes beauties ofthe Montenegrin coast, its 73 kilometres of sandy beaches,preserved medieval towns, rich cultural and historical her-itage, quality hotel offer, which is described as a holiday par-adise.

Among many appraisals, the “Gootrip” especially points outthat Montenegro has favourable tourist offer and attractiveholiday locations.

A special emphasis is put on Durmitor and rafting on Tara,the vicinity of the sea and mountains as comparative ad-vantage in comparison to other destinations, and Sveti Ste-

ARTICLES ABOUT MONTENEGRO IN INTERNATIONAL PRESS

CHINESE TOURIST MAGAZINE “GOOTRIP” PUBLISHESARTICLE ON MONTENEGRO AS AN ATTRACTIVE

DESTINATION

fan as a pearl of the Adriatic coast, which was visited bymany famous people of the world jet-set.

The end of the text provides useful information about theprocedure for issuing visas for Chinese citizens in order tomake their visit easier.

The publishing of the article on Montenegro in the“Gootrip” is certainly very important for the development oftourism and covering of Chinese market, which is ex-panding and this means the covering of the entire Asianmarket by promoting tourist brand of Montenegro.

Chinese market, together with Indian market, is assessedby the World Tourist Organization as the fastest growing.Based on the decision of the Government of China madein September 2009, Montenegro was put on the “white list”of the countries where organized groups from China areallowed to go to.

November 2009

17.

ARTICLE ON WINTER TOURIST CENTRES OF MONTENEGRO PUBLISHED IN THE MOST POPULARSKI-MAGAZINE “SKI & SNOWBOARD” IN THE GREAT

BRITAIN

“You are tired of the lead European winter centres? Youdream of escaping to snow white space, unbelievableskiing between trees and taste cultural adventure? Thenlook for a small and relatively unknown country of Mon-tenegro.” – this is said by the article on Montenegro,which was published in one of the best and the mostpopular ski-magazines in the Great Britain “Ski & Snow-boarding”. The author of the article titled “A story fromthe eastern side” is Simon Kelton. He visited our coun-try in March 2009 together with former British slalomchampion Adam Sulivan, in the organization of the Na-tional Tourist Organization of Montenegro. He visited theski centre Kolašin 1450 on Bjelasica and Savin Kuk onDurmitor. He writes in this article about his impressionsduring skiing on unmarked trails, snowboarding, ex-tremely affordable prices with high quality equipment incentres.

”In Kolašin we enjoyed the blue sky, bright snow and thefreshness that can rival the freshness in Canada.” Ac-cording to his opinion, only the quick raise of the popu-larity of the ski centre Aspen in Colorado can bemeasured with the popularity that will happen in thenorth of Montenegro once the beauties of its terrain arerevealed to wider audience. The text includes his de-tailed description of the visit to Montenegro, the offer of

gastronomy speciali-ties of Podgorica andthe northern region,hospitality of hosts,description of urbanplaces and natural at-tractions.

He also emphasises that although Kolašin is not as big as most of winter centres in Franceand Switzerland, its best hotel “Bianca” can be compared with the best hotels in thosecentres, with excellent spa centre, gym, night club, restaurants and large indoor pool.

”A bigger challenge is posed by Durmitor which offers the experience of adventure to fansof winter sports. In the near future, mountains of Montenegro, phenomenal trails and goodprices will position this country on the map of lead ski-destinations.”

Recently, international media publish increasing number of articles on Montenegro as awinter destination, whish indicates that our country is becoming recognizable not only asa summer tourist destination, but as a destination where tourist can enjoy intact nature ofMontenegrin mountains during winter season as well.

ARTICLES ABOUT MONTENEGRO IN INTERNATIONAL PRESS

“You are tired of the leadEuropean winter centres?You dream of escaping tosnow white space, unbe-lievable skiing betweentrees and taste cultural

adventure? Then look fora small and relatively un-known country of Mon-

tenegro.” – this is said bythe article on Montene-

gro, which was publishedin one of the best and themost popular ski-maga-zines in the Great Britain“Ski & Snowboarding”.

November 2009

18.

ARTICLES ABOUT MONTENEGRO IN INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Montenegro takes the first place on the list of thetop five destinations for 2010, which was estab-lished by the British tour-operator “OriginalTravel”, followed by Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Malawiand India.

The “Original Travel” is awarded company spe-cialized for travels around the world, and a num-ber of its members visited Montenegro.

“Original travel” describes Montenegro as an at-tractive destination which has a coast with thefinest beaches.

Clear transparent water of the Adriatic Sea,mountains, fields and olive groves make thisdestination the most memorable on the Mediter-ranean, says the “Original Travel”.

This tour-operator says that the Sveti Stefan Is-land retained the same architecture as 500 yearsago when it was built.

“When this Island was taken over by the group ofluxury hotels Aman, and this is their first invest-ment in Europe, we hope to see it renewed nextyear when it will be completely renovated”, saysthe “Original Travel”.

The Original Travel is a rewarded company which promotestravels around the world.

More information can be found at www.originaltravel.co.uk

MONTENEGRO TAKES THE FIRST PLACE ON THE LISTOF THE TOP FIVE DESTINATIONS FOR THE NEXT

YEAR

November 2009

19.

A GROUP OF GERMAN TOUR-OPERATORS VISITSMONTENEGRO

The National Tourist Organizationof Montenegro, in cooperation withcolleagues from Bosnia andHerzegovina, GTZ, local tourist or-ganizations and tourist agencies,organized a study tour for tour-op-erators from Germany in the periodNovember 02-11 of this year, underthe RDA project of regional coop-eration between Montenegro,Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania,Macedonia and Serbia on the Ger-man market.

The German tour-operators in-clude lead names such as: “Alpen-tour Touristische”, “Kästle OstTouristik”, “Bayerisches Pilger-büro”, “Studiosus ReisenMünchen”, “TUI Deutschland– in-dividual travels, cruises, healthtourism”, “Natours Reisen”, “ECOTravel Montenegro”, “Schneewitchen Reise”, “Lernidee Er-lebnisreisen”, “Mexplore – Abenteuerreisen”, “TUI Group –Foxtours”. These tour-operators offer tours, i.e. round travelsin the region, which indicates that joint appearance and re-gional networking and the establishment of new forms of co-operation is extremely important. This ensures a complexcomparative advantage of the region on tourist market.

For the purpose of learning as much as possible about the

tourist offer of Montenegro, an adequate and rich pro-gramme was prepared for these tour-operators, which in-volved visiting cultural and historical locations, nationalparks, and learning about accommodation capacities andamenities (hiking tours, mountain biking, excursions withfield vehicles, rafting, visiting eco-katuns, rafting on theSkadar Lake, sailing on the sea, etc.).

Organizing visits of study groups, not only tour-operatorsbut journalists as well, in additionto exhibitions on lead fairs andcontinuous informing of touristsabout Montenegro by the touristrepresentative office in Frankfurt,is one of promotional activitiesthat the NTO implements on theGerman market.

During the visit, tour-operatorshad a chance to meet with repre-sentatives of Montenegrintourism: local tourist organizationsof Kolašin, Budva, Kotor, Cetinje,tourist agencies “RAMS”, “Mon-tenegro Holidays”, “Adriatic Ex-press” and “MN Holidays”, whohave been presenting their offeron the RDA Fair for years now,and they participated in this re-gional cooperation project.

STUDY GROUPS OF JOURNALISTS

November 2009

20.

STUDY GROUPS OF JOURNALISTS

STUDY GROUP OF JOURNALISTS FROM MACEDONIAVISITS THE NORTH OF MONTENEGRO

Under the promotional activities and before the winter touristseason, the Ministry of Tourism and the National Tourist Or-ganization of Montenegro organized a visit of the studygroup of journalists from Macedonia who stayed in the northof our country for four days (19 -22 November).

Representatives of Macedonian media (RTV Macedonia,TV Kanal 5, Alfa TV, TV Sonce, daily newspapers UtrinskiVesnik, Makedonsko Sonce, Vest, Magazine Forum,Dnevnik, Agency “Netpress”) visited in the first two days ho-tels “Bianca Resort &Spa” and “Lipka” in Kolašin and metwith representatives of hospitality and tourism of the town,who informed them about arrangements for the forthcom-ing winter tourist season. In addition to this, they visited therenovated ski centre in Jezerine “New Ski Resort Kolašin1450” which was presented to them by the Director of theski resort Ivana Peković, and on Saturday they met with theMayor of Kolašin, Mileta Bulatović.

In order to learn about winter tourist offer of the north ofMontenegro, Macedonian journalists visited Žabljak as well,where they visited the ski centre “Savin Kuk” and the Na-tional Park Durmitor, and a visit to the National Park Bi-ogradska Gora is planned as well. Also, they were informedabout the programme of winter activities, which implies var-ious entertaining, cultural and sport events on snow, andthe catalogue of events during winter months throughoutMontenegro.

Guests from Macedonia were positively impressed by pre-served natural beauties of Montenegro and the fact that, in

addition to quality tourist offer ofcoastal town during summermonths, the northern region ofMontenegro offers a considerablyimproved winter tourist offer andopportunities for active holiday allyear round.

In the first nine months of thisyear, Montenegro was visited by17 501 tourists from Macedonia,who realized 138 585 overnightstays. The national airline com-pany “Montenegro Airlines” intro-duced regular everyday flightsSkoplje-Podgorica.

Under the intensive promotionalcampaign on the regional market,Montenegro will soon be visitedby a study group of journalistsfrom Serbia and Bosnia andHerzegovina.