Coastal Tourism in Montenegro – Economic Dynamics, Spatial Developments and Future Perspectives

Abstract

Montenegro seeks its future perspectives in tourism. And there are good reasons for that: The country was considered to be the fastest growing tourism market worldwide in 2007. Notwithstanding a slight decrease during the last years, tourism is still seen as a crucial factor for future economic development. This seems to be a viable option if we consider Montenegro's natural potential, its beneficial position on the Adriatic coastline and the experience in tourism gained in the many years since the 1970s. These dynamic developments were motivation enough to explore tourism in Montenegro in a research project with strong empirical evidence, organised as cooperation between Universities from Germany, Albania, Montenegro and Serbia. Our empirical approach included semi-structured, flexible interviews with different types of stakeholders. Since tourism in Montenegro is still almost entirely limited to the coast, we chose three coastal hot-spots in tourism, namely Kotor, Budva and Ulcinj. Our results show that the current development in tourism can surely be considered as progressive and dynamic. But it is also strongly affected by multiple polarisations and divergent trends. There is a need for infrastructural upgrades in the mass tourism sector, which is for the most part a low budget market with very difficult future perspectives. At the same time, there is a small but growing number of very exclusive offers, often seen as the vanguard of Montenegro's future as an upper class tourists' destination. All in all, the economic bias towards coastal tourism involves the risk of an increase in the already strong spatial disparities, leaving behind a mountainous hinterland with a shrinking economy and population.

Attracting investments in the Tourism Sector in Ulcinj, Montenegro

“…Possibly the reason why DEG masterplan for Project Ulcinj has suffered lack of investment could be due to unrealistic and highly expensive sale tenders that have been established. "An area of about 19.5 km² (14.5 km² without the Island of Ada)" has been available for sale (Bickert et al, 2011). The plan was "to build six hotel-groups and mixed forms of accommodation offering a total of 25,000 to 27,000 beds", with areas of leisure such as a golf course and a bird-watching zone included in the tender (Bickert et al, 2011).…”

“…"An area of about 19.5 km² (14.5 km² without the Island of Ada)" has been available for sale (Bickert et al, 2011). The plan was "to build six hotel-groups and mixed forms of accommodation offering a total of 25,000 to 27,000 beds", with areas of leisure such as a golf course and a bird-watching zone included in the tender (Bickert et al, 2011). The tendered area for sale estimated costs of 1.2 billion with the Island of Ada Bojana.…”

The Boka Kotorska: A Vernacular Response to Sustainable Urban Environments

“…As a consequence, nearly all of the medium and premier structures and facilities have been built with foreign investment, and therefore are to a large extent governed from outside of Montenegro. The increase in investment and beneficial economic effects and growth in tourism are on balance regarded by Montenegrins as positive, but there is also concern at "the visible changes in the landscape" (Bickert et al 2011). The uncontrolled expansion of settled areas and subsequent damage to the natural environment is an obvious concern given this is regarded as a fundamental feature of a sustainable Montenegrin tourist industry.…”

A Comparison of Tourist Arrivals Among Franchised Versus Independent Hotels

“…Many factors were facilitating this development. Montenegro's natural potential and its advantageous position on the Adriatic coastline led to the development of mass tourism since the 1960s (Bickeret et al, 2011). Th is period is marked as a high intense tourism development era on the Yugoslavian coast when the intensity of development was often compared to the development of the Spanish Costas (Gosar, 2007).…”

“…Th e period from 1991 until the independence of Montenegro was not very favorable for tourism and was not often the subject of scientifi c papers. Bickeret et al (2011), in their article, argue that there is a lack of up-to-date research in the case of Montenegro, and the current situation is almost unchanged. One of the primary goals of this paper is to contribute to the literature in hospitality, which strives to encourage researchers to investigate more the economic impact of hospitality.…”