By Bojana Sutvic
Increase in arrivals of tourists by almost 30 percent in the first ten months of this year shows that tourism is one of the most developed and most promising sectors of the economy, said Asja Hadziefendic-Mesic, spokeswoman for the Tourist Board of the Federation of BiH, in an interview with Today Bosnia.
“It is necessary to adopt a strategy of tourism development in BiH, strategy of development of the region, harmonize all legislation in relation to the tourism. And yes, more must be invested in tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” said Hadziefendic-Mesic.
BT: Number of tourists in Bosnia and Herzegovina is constantly growing. What are the reasons for that?
– There were 646,207 tourists in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first 10 months of this year, 27.3 percent more than in the same time last year. There were 1,300,026 overnight stays, 33.6 percent more than in 10 months of last year.
In the first six months of 2015, revenue from tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina amounted to 463.8 million KM, which is 12.9 percent more than in the same period in 2014.
These figures show the extent of the increase in tourism. For Bosnia and Herzegovina, tourism is certainly one of the most developed and most promising sectors of the economy.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is lately often referred to as a preferred tourist destination, even in international journals. The fact that Lonely Planet put BiH on the list of the most popular tourist destinations really means a lot.
However, there are also concrete problems in BiH that hinder better and faster development of tourism. For example, we have no Strategy for tourism development. We have no ministry of tourism at the state level. We have no unified system of planning and investing in tourism.
Also, law enforcement is not satisfactory in practice. So, it happens that only a certain percentage of tourist stays and arrivals in Bosnia and Herzegovina is registered. The most obvious example of this is Medjugorje which records visits by millions of people but we, as a country, don’t have much benefit because only a small part of these visits is officially reported.
BT: What the foreign tourists find the most attractive in BiH?
– Foreign tourists are very interested in, above all, rich cultural and historical heritage combined with natural beauty. Bosnia and Herzegovina offers a blend of these two things: tourists who come mainly want to see cultural and historical sites as well as spend some time in a beautiful nature.
One of the things that foreign tourists recognize and appreciate is the kindness and hospitality of the citizens of this country.
BT: Are we doing enough to promote tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
– No. Unfortunately, we do not have financial means to promote our activities and resources as we would like and should. We use all the capacities we have available for which it is not necessary to allocate funds. Thanks to the excellent relations, we are able to promote our tourist destinations through some media, fairs and the like, but this is far from a systematic approach.
Tourist Board of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina doesn’t have its office or branch office in any country abroad. We use our network of diplomatic and consular missions for promotion of BiH tourism abroad.
What makes high-quality and efficient promotion of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its tourist potential additionally difficult, besides the adverse financial situation, is the fact that tourism activities are not coordinated at the state level. The competences in the field of tourism are on the entity level where tourist boards are formed.
BT: The winter season is coming. It already opened on some mountains, the others expect it in the coming days? Are we ready for the winter season?
– Mostly yes. All winter centers, except Igman and Bjelasnica, are fully prepared. We also have a mechanism for making artificial snow. So, if weather is good, we can say we will have a good season again. The winter season is also the period when the number of tourist visits to the mountains is the largest.
As for Igman and Bjelasnica, there are complaints about lack of offer. The plan is to work on the expansion of offer on these mountains, which would enable the mountains “live” throughout the year. Sarajevo Canton already has specific plans related to this and I think these problems will be solved in the next years.
