PODGORICA —  Montenegrin Tourism Minister Predrag Nenezi? says that the “pre-season” in that country has been “slower, as expected”.
But, Nenezi? noted, the tourist season thus far “has not been bad”.
The country has seen the biggest drop of tourists coming from Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia this year, he explained.
“At the moment we have 28,000 registered tourists, 25,000 foreign,” Nenezi? told Podgorica-based daily Vijesti.
According to official data, there are currently six percent less tourists in Montenegro than in the same period last year.
Most have decided to spend their vacation in the seaside town of Budva – some 15,700, or about five percent less than in 2009.
The decline in the number of tourists compared to last year was also seen in the port of Bar and the town of Ulcinj, the Boka Bay towns of Tivat and Kotor have more tourists this year.
The Montenegrin minister said that “the fact that numbers of western tourists were returning to the record-high 2008 was encouraging”, and that there was “no need to worry” about the Russian market.
“The biggest drop is in the markets of Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, but we expect that it will be compensated for, because a strong campaign for each guest is being carried out,” Nenezi? said, and added that a regional campaign promoting “cheap vacationing in Montenegro” was under way, and that July would “show the real response from these markets”.

Source: B92, Vijesti
http://video.zoover.nl/media/play/2010/01/20100125130811_025.flv