Economic analyst and owner/editor-in-chief of the business portal bizniscg.me, Predrag Zečević, states that Montenegro’s tourism revenue is too low because the country has driven away high-paying tourists and is currently developing mass tourism, which is not ideal for a small country like Montenegro.
Zečević, speaking on the “Epicenter” program on Gradska TV, explained that Montenegro’s tourism revenue is lower than that of some cities in tourist-heavy countries.
“We boast about €1.4 billion in tourism revenue, but that’s catastrophic. The city of Bruges alone earns €2 billion, and Venice generates more from tourism than the entire country of Montenegro… This supports my argument that Montenegro’s tourism income is terrible. There are multiple issues. One of them is that, as an island, we lack developed transportation infrastructure, and the biggest problem recently is that high-paying tourists are not coming to Montenegro,” Zečević said.
He pointed out that high-paying tourists to Montenegro mostly came from Russia, but the country “pushed them away” by imposing sanctions on Russia due to the war in Ukraine.
“All top destinations are trying to reduce the number of tourists, like Dubrovnik or Venice, by charging various fees to attract high-paying tourists. Venice raised its entry fee from €5 to €10, and in Dubrovnik, you must show you have money to enter the city. Montenegro must abandon its mass tourism development strategy and shift to elite tourism, bringing back high-paying guests. The best, very wealthy, high-paying tourists were from Russia, and we drove them away with sanctions. The most profitable flights, and Montenegro Airlines had up to six a day, were those to Russia, and we canceled them. This is currently our biggest issue in tourism,” Zečević concluded.
