Can investments in ski resorts be justified if systems for artificial snow are not built soon, is a question to which the answer is self-evident. In the era of global warming, with ski centers at an altitude below two thousand meters, it is almost impossible to have a successful season of 100 ski days. The team of the Television of Montenegro spoke in Mojkovac with experts from Slovenia, who are leaders in the production of cannons for artificial snow. They say that without artificial snow, there are no more successful tourist centers.
Saša Kranjc, owner of the company for the production of cannons for artificial snow, points out that it is impossible to do without a system for artificial snow.
– You can’t do without it, there will be snow in February, March, but in December it has to be prepared – says Kranjc.
Even in the still unfinished Žarski ski resort, they agree that there is no success without cannons for artificial snow.
– Given that years like this one are repeated and every third and fourth we have mild winters with little snow, it is necessary for us to get this system – says Ljubomir Vukadinović from the Ski Resort of Montenegro – Ski Center Žarski.
A Slovenian company that is a leader in the production of artificial snow systems has opened a showroom in Mojkovac. He will present the benefits of artificial snow production. Ski resorts will no longer rely only on seeding, but also on the reservoir lakes needed for these systems, which would be an attraction in the summer.
– This is no longer called winter tourism, but alpine, mountain tourism, because there are examples of ski resorts earning up to 70% of their income in the summer – says Kranjc.
Slovenian experts were convinced that there is potential for this. Kranjc points out that what he saw yesterday in Žabljak, for example, is something that certainly does not exist in the Balkans.
– It’s not big, but it’s deadly beautiful – believes Kranjc.
Although these systems have been talked about for years, the work is far from over at any ski resort. A tender for a water supply contractor is underway in Kolašin, and when our largest ski center will receive cannons is still not precisely known.
– The second phase of the development project is underway and I believe that it should be solved infrastructurally, infrastructural problems. We hope and will try to make it happen in 2024 and 2025 – said Olivera Popović from the Ministry of Economic Development and Tourism.
The fact that our ski resorts will still have to wait for these systems does not have to be a bad thing, say Slovenian experts, because the new systems with storage lakes are significantly more profitable and offer more opportunities.