The much-announced tourist boom, lines of tourists, overbooked private accommodation, full beaches, restaurants and bars, which would elevate the summer of 2023 to the throne when it comes to the success of seasons in Montenegrin tourism history, judging by the current situation in the flagship of Montenegro’s tourist traffic, Budva, is not yet there.
Announcements, especially from state addresses, that this season will break the record results of 2019 – are not seen on the “field”, and the much-anticipated peak of the summer has by no means begun, even though July is practically at an end.
Despite the fact that optimists still hope that the tourism metropolis will be full from Monday, the shortening of the summer peak to only twenty days is a bad signal for the tourist economy, because, according to many, it is not enough to make profits that would draw a worse visitation during May and June due to unfavorable weather conditions, as well as the “July hole” when there was an evident lack of guests.
– The very beginning of the season from the end of March promised a record tourist season, however, we should be in the peak of the season, and the city is half empty – Luka Vučković, the owner of the old town bar Mozart said.
He points out that his workload is the same compared to June, which, he says, has never happened.
– From conversations with colleagues who deal with renting out accommodation, I learned that their business situation is the same as ours. It is true that we raised prices by ten to twenty percent, but I don’t see that as the main problem because prices are significantly higher in neighboring countries than here. I must mention that the seven percent VAT on food and non-alcoholic beverages significantly helped us in our business recovery from the bad seasons caused by the corona virus – stresses Vučković.
