The Tourist Organisation in Boka’s smallest town stated yesterday that a total of 6,290 officially registered tourists were currently staying at all types of registered accommodation on the Tivat Riviera - a 40 percent increase on the same day last year.

Of the total number of guests, 6,257 are from abroad, with only 33 visitors coming from Montenegro. The majority of tourists - 5,254, are staying in private accommodation, with 877 in hotels, 122 in resorts and 37 tourists staying at campsites.

Tivat Airport - Photo: Boka News

At the same time, on Saturday morning Tivat Airport was expecting its one-millionth passenger of the year, on one of its regular morning flights from Tivat to Moscow. The one million passenger benchmark for the airport will have been reached ten days earlier than last year, showing that this tourist season has also been extremely successful for the airport.

25 August 2019 - The Bella Boka project has had a good start this week. The idea to revive the tradition of using waterways in Boka Kotorska for the transportation of citizens and tourists, which has been almost forgotten during the past decades has received a warm welcome in the bay, both from guests and natives.

The solar vessel Elettra and hybrid Graziana as part of the Bella Boka project started their trips on the routes Herceg Novi-Tivat-Perast and Perast-Kotor this Tuesday and the first impressions are more than satisfactory, says the owner and general manager of Bella Boka, Riccardo Bonetti for TMN:

“I am very satisfied how it has started and the people who are using our boats are very happy, especially with the route Tivat – Herceg Novi and Herceg Novi-Tivat. We have very good feedback from the people, who have very good comments about their impressions of the connection between the two municipalities. Every day we have more people and in the following days, we will make better promotion, especially to the local people. We use our two boats to test how to connect Boka Kotorska in the best way.                                                                                                                                                             At the moment we are using the bigger boat, Graciana, also for the ride to Kotor, but it will be used to connect only Herceg Novi, Tivat and Perast in the final project, but at the moment we have included two boats and one boat is working with the small boat, full electric working in the area of Kotor municipality. With the bigger, Graciana we sail on a longer distance. I will check the best way to connect Herceg Novi, Tivat, Perast and Kotor. We will make the best solution, advised by the comments of our passengers.”

Graciana and Elletra will also be available to connect Bokelian municipalities and the lovers of sea routes during the winter: ”We intend to work during the winter also, but we will reduce our time-table and adapt it, for example, to transport students to school, people to work. 

At the moment we are not planning to do any private agreement, such as excursions for tourist agencies, this is a public line. We are only doing public transport with very low prices for all people, so the trip from Tivat to Herceg Novi costs four euros and Graciana can take up to sixty passengers. Since we have just started, there have been some situations with the times and routes. We also have to adjust the time table. This is a theoretical time table, because we have traffic in every port. We have reservations for our place, but especially in Kotor, for example,, it is very, very hard to have the place, because there are so many boats. Then you have to wait, and it’s not a good situation, it practically happens every day.”

The Bella Boka project - Sustainable water transport by solar trimarans in Boka Kotorska has been established to positively influence the problem of congestion in road traffic, especially during the summer season.

The total value of this project, unique in the Mediterranean, has been €4,259,000, while co-financing through the UNDP project for Low carbon tourism in Montenegro amounts to 150,000 euros.

The project is very significant, because it helps reduce the level of harmful gas emissions, including CO2, and offers passengers a truly exciting and inspirational experience. It was important to have a good idea like this, but as Ricardo says, it needed people to make it come true.

20 August 2019 - This summer, guests of Aman Sveti Stefan in Montenegro will be able to enjoy an unforgettable experience – a holiday with a view of the Adriatic Sea and the artwork of three famous worldwide known artists publicly displayed on the walls of the hotel rooms and restaurants.

This one-of-a-kind art exhibition is running until 8 September thus making this luxury resort even more interesting. So instead of having the one-month event – as initially planned – art lovers will be able to see the artwork by the end of the first week of September, reported Cafe del Montenegro.

But, if you wish to see the artworks at Sveti Stefan, you need to be lucky enough to be the guest of this charming resort comprising of 58 rooms, apartments and villas, built as a former fisherman’s village in the 15th century.

After years of exhaustive renovation, finally completed in 2010, many celebs, such as Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, David and Victoria Beckham, as well as Novak Đoković swept through the airy corridors of the Sveti Stefan hotel.

Aman Sveti Stefan’s ‘Art on the Island: Les Ateliers, Picasso, Chagall, Miro’ exhibition features more than 60 lithographs of Picasso, Miro and Chagall, displayed in Villa Miločer, the hotel’s restaurants, bars and certain apartments on the island.

"Imagine waking up in the Louvre or walking through the Tate on your way to dinner. Luxury hotels are themselves an artwork, and by providing a unique setting for the right pieces of art, they can deliver a truly unforgettable guest experience. Few hotels can match the unique setting of Aman Sveti Stefan," the owner of this high-end resort Petros Stathis stated.

"This is a unique opportunity for guests to experience the super-slick service and stay in the resort alongside some of the most beautiful artwork of the last century. We are honored to be hosting the exhibition of such quality and to offer our guests something truly special. This exhibition marks the journey of Montenegro and the Balkans to the high-end tourism destination," Stathis concluded.

Read more about traveling through Montenegro at TMN's dedicated page.

14 August 2019 - Since the beginning of 2019, tourists from more than 170 countries have visited Budva.

As representatives of the Tourist Organization Budva report, most arrivals and overnight stays were made by guests from Russia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany and Ukraine. The fact that guests from Germany were dominant is encouraging, as Germany is considered the most important emitting market, as CdM reported.

“According to the official data provided by the Statistical Office of Montenegro, tourists from European countries usually opt for hotel accommodation in the city. The greatest emitting markets are Germany, Russia, Serbia, Albania, China and France,” stated the representatives of Tourist Organization Budva.

This year, Budva welcomed many tourists from distant destinations, such as Japan, India, Indonesia, South African Republic, Cuba, Malaysia or Taiwan. There are also tourists who come from less expected, interesting destinations like Papua New Guinea, Mauritius, Cambodia, Nigeria, Venezuela, Peru, Uruguay, Seychelles and many others.

“In the middle of August, the streets of the city are featuring the diversity and richness of different world languages,” pointed out the representatives of Tourist Organization Budva.

According to the latest report by the European Travel Commission, Montenegro is the 'Star of the Mediterranean' in the first quarter of this year.

Read more news about traveling through Montenegro at TMN's dedicated page.

The Municipal Committee of the Social Democratic Party of Kotor has come out in favour of introducing excursion fees for Perast, starting next tourist season. They pointed out that particular attention needs to be given to the area, using sustainable regulations to ensure infrastructure and living conditions can be improved.

“In 2018, Kotor Tourism Organisation, in consultation with representatives of the National Tourism Organisation of Montenegro and the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, considered the introduction of an excursion fee for Perast. In spite of this, for unknown reasons, the former authorities in Kotor did not understand the severity of the situation and therefore did not seek the agreement of the Government of Montenegro. This issue particularly came to the fore due to the unfolding chaos in Perast, a situation from which the town reaps absolutely no benefit,”  Kotor SDP stated.

On the other hand, they add that current information from the global tourist market warns that our country is being threatened by so-called overtourism, meaning that there are so many visitors in one location that there is a negative impact on local life and the environment.

“Perast is, after the Old Town, the most visited part of Kotor Municipality, with more than one-third of cruise tourists visiting the town. All visitors from Dubrovnik arrive by bus, along with over half the hotel guests from Budva, Tivat and Herceg Novi Municipalities, where agencies organise excursions,” they state.

The SDP notes that the number of visitors in the Old Town last year was over half a million, whereas in the first seven months of this year alone the figure was 305,000.

“On this basis, by the end of this year, at least 550,000 tourists are expected. This means, calculated for one euro per person for groups of more than five tourists, an income of 550,000 euros. Using these indicators, the income from an excursion fee for Perast would be at least 250,000 euros, which would, on the basis of a specially-designed plan, be allocated solely for the development of local infrastructure and to improve the living standards of locals in Perast,” concluded Kotor SDP.

13 August 2019 - Bar's tourist offer is richer thanks to another four-star hotel, the Pearl Beach Hotel, located on the famous sandy beach in Čanj Bay, between Sutomore and Buljarica.

"We are convinced that the Pearl Beach Hotel Resort will be a strong impetus for the rapid development and revival of the Čanj area," said the representatives of the company that owns the new hotel, Šajo Group.

The hotel operates as part of Podgorica based company Šajo Group, which also became the majority owner of Joint Stock Company Recreatours Belgrade earlier this year, reports Vijesti daily. The JSC Recreatours owns the tourist settlement Biserna obala (English: Pearl Beach), Hotel Šumadija in Rafailovići and various hotels located at Kopaonik and near Srebrno jezero (English: Silver Lake) in Serbia.

Located in Čanj, Pearl Beach Hotel features a gorgeous garden, fitness centre, restaurant and bar, a 24-hour front desk, room service and free WiFi service. "With the aid of our business partners, in a relatively short timeframe and with extraordinary efforts, we were able to raise the level of services and accommodation significantly and put into operation 444 accommodation units of the once-neglected tourist resort Biserna obala," the representatives of Šajo Group highlighted.

In an interview for Vijesti daily, Director of Tourism at the Šajo Group, Petar Rakčević said that since the takeover of Pearl Coast to date, the renovation has cost two and a half million euros, and that the company plans to invest another three million by next summer.

"Together with the largest tour operators in the world, above all TUI, we are on the path of rapid rebranding and repositioning of the tourist resort Pearl Beach, into one of the best tourist complexes and clubs in Montenegro and beyond," the company representatives highlighted.

They added that the first guests of the hotel are very satisfied with the resort’s offer. “The room was very clean and spacious. Communication with staff was easy going, and everything was as I expected. Food in the hotel is absolutely delicious and I highly recommend Pearl Beach Hotel as a perfect location if you want to stay on the Montenegrin coast,” says a recent review of one of the hotel’s guests posted at the Booking.com website.

Read more about luxurious must-visit resorts in Montenegro at TMN's dedicated page.

12 August 2019 - Ulcinj Municipality will host a handmade products fair entitled Fair Fest – Ulcinj 2019 from 16-18 of August. The grand opening of the fair, with a rich cultural and artistic program, will be held on August 16 at 8:00 pm, reports PR service of Ulcinj Municipality. Members of the local Association of Female Domestic Products Manufacturers from Ulcinj (Montenegrin: Udruženje žena proizvođača domaćih proizvoda iz Ulcinja) will exhibit their products at the fair. The slogan of the Fair Fest 2019 is “Try Local, Buy Local and Feel the Tradition”.

The fair is of great significance for the whole Ulcinj Municipality because it aims to present unique, domestic and traditional products which will appeal to all visitors and tourists. The organisers want people to gather and socialize in order to improve the tourist offer in the city.

“We invite all those interested in coming to take a look at our handmade products and have fun at our festival," states the official invitation of the PR service of Ulcinj Municipality.

Fair Fest - Ulcinj 2019 Fair is an activity implemented under the project "The Feminine Side of Quality", implemented by Ulcinj Municipality in partnership with NGO MogUL, Municipality of Mirdita - Albania and UET (European University of Tirana) Centre from Tirana. The project, which is aimed at the promotion of cross border cooperation on the enhancement of employability through the empowerment of women as wage earners and job creators, is funded by the European Union through the Montenegro-Albania Cross-Border Fund 2014-2020.

Read more about events that take place in Montenegro at TMN's dedicated page.