Wild Montenegro Woos Wealthy Tourists

By Nikola Doncic

KOTOR, Montenegro, June 28, 2006 (ENS) - The advertisements, shown on CNN television and in newspapers and magazines, have become an increasingly familiar sight to the globe trotting public. "Wild Montenegro" is the catch phrase - featuring such delights as mountains, picturesque old towns, sandy beaches and rafting on the Tara River.

It is all part of an aggressive marketing strategy by the government of the newly independent country to make tourism an economic mainstay. And it is certainly succeeding, judging by the exponential rise in the numbers of foreign visitors, not to mention would-be purchasers of second homes, desperate for a slice of the "new Tuscany" or "new Riviera."

But behind the hype of the glossy tourist ads lies a different reality, and one that the government is loathe to talk about - of shabby resorts, decaying infrastructure, illegal constructions that are ruining the landscape, sewage problems and water shortages that can make the most perfect-sounding holiday a hellish experience.

Private beach of the hotel Sveti Stefan on Montenegro's Adriatic shore. (Photo courtesy Budvanska Riviera Tourist Company)

But then warfare, and the siege of nearby Dubrovnik, in which Montenegrin soldiers took part, intruded. The tourists went away and by the early 1990s, tourism revenues had slumped to only US$6 million.

The fall in visitor numbers was equally drastic. In 1987 about 1.3 million tourists visited Montenegro, of whom about 400,000 were foreigners. But by 1992 the figures had crashed to 405,000 and 8,000 respectively. Most tourists were now from Serbia.

The year 1999 saw a new low point. In the year that NATO bombed Yugoslavia, many Serbs stayed away and the republic had only 290,000 visitors.

The slump in income and an influx of refugees had a devastating impact on the stock of hotels, many of which became temporary homes for refugees. At the same time, a collapse in planning regulations led to a rash of illegal construction along the coast.

Determined to put tourism back on its feet, in 2002 the Montenegrin government, in association with the European Union, unveiled a master plan for the development of Montenegrin tourism until 2020.

Montenegro's Tourism Minister Predrag Nenezic is attempting to appeal to wealthy visitors. (Photo courtesy Government of Montenegro)

"We established that we should have 100,000 beds at the most. Right now we have 35,000."

The minister underlined the economic importance of tourism to the small coastal country by pointing out that in 2005, it already earned 250 million euro from this sector - well up from the previous highpoint in the late 1980s.

"This accounts for 15.1 percent of our GDP and our goal is for it to be 22.5 percent in 10 years," added Nenezic.

The government has begun to tackle the problem of decaying infrastructure, investing millions of euro in the reconstruction of roads and transport facilities.

Airports in Podgorica and Tivat have been modernized at a cost of 22 million euro, improving connections with European centers.

A new six-kilometre tunnel has been built at the cost of 70 million euro to bring central Montenegro closer to the coast.

Massive construction is dramatically altering the coastal skyline. One illustration of this is the Hotel Splendid in Becici, near Budva, which with 800 beds is now the biggest hotel on the Montenegrin Riviera.

Hotel Splendid in Becici. (Photo courtesy Budvanska Riviera Tourist Company)

But not all this bright and brash development meets an approving eye in Montenegro, where critics of the government say too much development is in the hands of cartels and a handful of oligarchs.

The Group for Changes, a nongovernmental organization, which is re-launching itself as a political party, is especially critical of the handling of the tourism drive.

Petar Vuceljic, from the group, claims secret deals, hatched far from the public gaze, are enabling an oligarchy to take control of the country's most valuable assets.

"Montenegro's 'nouveau riche' capitalist class is trying to take ownership of the country's most important tourism capacities, using money made from smuggling," said Vuceljic.

He claimed that many hotels were sold to private owners in dubious circumstances, as evidenced by "low [sale] prices and very modest lists of buyers."

Another more indisputable problem affecting the tourist industry is widespread abuse of town planning and zoning laws.

The announced construction of two hotels next to the medieval walls of the town of Kotor, one of the tourist industry's pearls, may result in the Kotor-Risan bay being crossed off UNESCO's list of world cultural and natural highlights.

After an earthquake in 1979, Kotor was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List to restore this site and preserve the medieval walls of the city's fortress. (Photo courtesy Tourist Travel)

"Having good hotels is not all it takes," warned Biljana Gligoric, member of executive council of Expeditio.

Another problem facing the industry is the lack of skilled local personnel, despite the fact that two colleges specialize in this field.

Zarko Radulovic, of the Hotel Splendid, said the low standard of most local hoteliers and staff was "one of the sad stories of Montenegrin tourism.

"We mainly have to hire skilled personnel from the republics of former Yugoslavia, as well as from other European countries."

Some hotels are going further, bringing in staff from Philippines and other parts of Asia.

The Montenegrin authorities are in the meantime looking to improve cooperation with neighboring Croatia.

"Cooperation with the Dubrovnik-Neretva district interests us because without each other, we are not likely to succeed," said the tourism minister. "Dubrovnik has a good image, so our goal is to make the same image for us, if not a better one."

The Croatian consul in Montenegro, Ivan Skaric, agrees that both sides need to work on bringing together the Dubrovnik-Neretva district in Croatia and the Boka-Kotor Bay in Montenegro.

"We are working on setting up a joint agency to coordinate tourist activities in this region," said Skaric.

However, a group of tourist guides from Dubrovnik roaming with their guests around the old city of Kotor said they believed Montenegro had a long way to go.

On their one-day trip to Montengro, they said guests had complained of bumpy roads and the sight of ugly rubbish dumps. "They also often complain about level of hygiene," one guide said.

Rubbish pile in Kotor (Photo courtesy Rich McClear)

Natalija, a tourist from Serbia, agreed. "How can anyone think of developing tourism with such water shortages?" she asked, adding that on her previous holiday in Montenegro the water had gone off for hours daily, leaving her family unable to take showers or wash their dishes.

However, the long list of problems affecting Montenegrin's tourist industry is not likely to stem the growth in the number of foreign visitors.

Two women guests from England walking around the old Venetian squares of Kotor said they had been amazed by the natural beauty of the country and by the hospitality of their Montenegrin hosts. "Montenegro is a beautiful place," they agreed.

{Nikola Doncic is a journalist with the Podgorica weekly "Monitor." This article was published with the support of the British embassy in Belgrade, as part of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network's Minority Media Training and Reporting Project. Published in cooperation with the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR).}