Montenegro’s Tourism Minister Simonida Kordić and Liang Wang, the new head of the World Bank office covering Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, discussed continuing cooperation, focusing on strategic planning and conditions for sustainable tourism investment. The Ministry of Tourism said both sides confirmed their interest in continuing to work together.
Cooperation between the ministry and the World Bank Group intensified in late 2025. At earlier meetings, officials exchanged views and work plans and considered World Bank support for preparing strategic documents for tourism development, according to the ministry.
Kordić said tourism was Montenegro’s most important economic sector but was particularly exposed to global challenges and change, making careful, long-term planning necessary. “Tourism is Montenegro’s most important economic sector,” she said.
She also said current travel trends aligned with Montenegro’s development goals, as visitors increasingly choose trips outside peak season, less-known destinations and authentic experiences. The ministry said those preferences could create opportunities for areas with less-developed tourism and broaden the offer beyond traditional tourism centres.
The number of registered rural households in Montenegro increased from 56 in 2019 to more than 400 today, the ministry said. It identified this development alongside the potential to spread tourism activity across more areas of the country.
Montenegro prepared the publication Tourism Doing Business – Investing in Montenegro in cooperation with UN Tourism. The guide provides investment guidelines and an overview of potential locations for tourism projects, the ministry said.
World Bank representatives recognised Montenegro’s efforts to diversify tourism markets and strengthen its position on the global tourism map, as well as the ministry’s international cooperation and promotion of the country as a tourism and investment destination, according to the ministry.
The ministry also organised a Europe-Asia interregional meeting with UN Tourism, attended by World Bank representatives. It described the event as contributing to Montenegro’s international visibility and links between tourism markets, while providing a forum for dialogue and exchange on the future of tourism and nautical tourism.
The ministry expects strategic planning and sustainable investment to support the competitiveness of Montenegro’s tourism industry and a more even distribution of economic benefits among regions. The next phase of cooperation is expected to focus particularly on planning and creating conditions for those investments.
