September 24, 2019 - Herceg Novi has received two new murals. One could be found on the wall beside the crossing of the Stairway of Danica Tomasevic and the Pet Danica Promenade. Another one is drawn on the wall along with the steps in Risanska Street. Both themes are the sea. The murals were painted as part of this year's Street Art Festival.

16 September 2019 - According to records published by the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, there are 453 hotels in Montenegro with 43.639 beds. Nearly 55% account for four-star and five-star hotels. This year, 38 high-end hotels have been opened, and there will be even more.

As representatives of the Ministry said, categorization procedure helps achieve one of Government’s goals – creating conditions for the improvement and raising the quality level of catering capacities.

One of the key measures defined by the Reforms in the Area of Tourism Agenda is the development of new and improvement of the existing accommodation facilities. The most important activity in that context is defining models for the enhancement of the construction of four and five-star hotels, reports CdM.

"There are currently 25 five-star hotels in Montenegro. One hundred seventy-nine four-star hotels, whereas others refer to one to three stars," said the representatives of the Ministry.

Analysis of the current state of affairs of hotel structure takes into consideration the fact that the Strategy adopted at the end of 2008, when the many-year-long economic crisis started, has severely affected the investment projects in Montenegro.

"However, despite such ambiance, we are very satisfied with the structure of our hotels now, as the number of high-end hotels exceeds the projections envisaged by the Strategy," said the representatives of the Ministry.

Raising the offer quality in hotels and other catering facilities achieves the strategic goal of the development of tourism in Montenegro- high quality, all-year-long tourist offer.

"In that context, Government is focused on creating conditions for enhancing the development of catering services, as the most important segment of the tourism product," said the representatives of the Ministry.

With the aim of raising competitiveness level and creating conditions for the extension of the season, Ministry has been implementing the project of the establishment, improvement and control of the quality level of hotel facilities as well as other accommodation facilities.

Commission of the Ministry of Tourism is in charge of the categorization of catering facilities.

"Commission for categorization of catering facilities conducts the categorization procedure and assigns the category depending on the organization, equipment and maintenance of the facility, type and quality of services and other categorization criteria," explained the representatives of the Ministry.

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

Herceg Novi Municipality has formalised its friendship with the Portuguese city of Estarreja with a memorandum signed by the mayors of the two municipalities, Stevan Katić and Diamatino Sabina. As announced after the signing, the Memorandum of Friendship and Cooperation aims to deepen and strengthen ties, with the intention of a future twinning between the two municipalities.

According to the mayor’s office, friendly relations between Estarreja and Herceg Novi have been ongoing for several years, and were established under the auspices of the cross-border project “TIPS4EU”. Partnership in the project enabled the two municipalities to gain insight into spatial and socio-economic specificities, as well as an affinity with each other. The partners then decided to sign the Memorandum, bearing in mind the significance of fostering cooperation and friendship between European municipalities, with an emphasis on exchanging experiences in various areas of development and promotion of intercultural dialogue.

“As city leaders, we need to develop international cooperation, we have an obligation to be open towards other cities and foster friendship. We always have a lot to learn from each other,” stated the Mayor of Estarreja Municipality, Diamantino Sabina.

Signing of Memorandum - Herceg Novi Municipality

As he stated, Herceg Novi and Estarreja have many geographical and cultural differences, but also have similarities. Both are coastal cities, and their people share the same mentality - open-minded and hospitable.

We are all the same if our heart is in the same place. I am certain that our cooperation will be very fruitful and, despite our linguistic differences, we will understand each other very well,” announced Sabina.

Signing of memorandum Herceg Novi Estarreja - Herceg Novi Municipality

He called on the leaders of Herceg Novi to make a return visit, in order to better understand the possibilities in the areas where links could be established.

There is significant space for cooperation in the area of culture, bearing in mind that the two cities are quite similar when it comes to what they offer culturally.

“Estarreja also holds a carnival, similar in some ways to our Mimosa, and also has a street art festival. It is interesting that both cities have houses belonging to Nobel Laureates, in Estarreja belonging to António Egas Moniz who received the prize for medicine, and in Herceg Novi belonging to writer Ivo Andrić,” stated the Mayor of Herceg Novi Municipality Stevan Katić.

He added that they planned to apply jointly for financing from international funds, through which both cities would aim to secure financial support for a range of projects. 

The local authorities state that the signing of the Memorandum with Estarreja is just the start of active cooperation between Herceg Novi and numerous local governments. Over the past two years, friendship and twinning agreements have been signed with cities in China, Russia, Western Europe and the region. The ultimate goal is to make better use of opportunities for cooperation, that is the development of cultural, economic, tourism and scientific cooperation, and cooperation in the area of environmental protection and promotion, as well as for exchanging ideas and experiences, and better understanding of cultural, ethnographic and social values. 

Source - radiojadran.com

01 September 2019 - The 340 million EUR super-yacht Eclipse, owned by the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, was spotted in the Boka Bay this morning.

The ship has 24 guest cabins, two pools, a nightclub, and even a missile defense system!

The Russian billionaire spent 350 million EUR to make this ship, but some claim it cost 1 billion EUR if all the luxury and safety amenities are taken into account.

Roman Abramovich’s Eclipse boasts nine decks, the top one containing two helipads and a garage. The forward helipads open out to allow for a Eurocopter EC155 to be placed in a hangar underneath, reported Cafe del Montenegro.

The 8th deck has a swimming pool and a sundeck, with a pull-out barbecue and pizza oven and a built-in wood-burning fire pit.

The main saloon boasts a fireplace and a massive sculpture from Indonesia. There is another pool on the seventh deck with an adjustable depth feature that sees the floor rise and fall, so that it can be changed into a dance floor.

The Eclipse also has bullet-proof windows and lasers to dazzle paparazzi.

Each cabin in the yacht has a private cinema screen, a Jacuzzi, spa and special security systems. The super-yacht is however very expensive to maintain – running costs are estimated to 40 million EUR a year.

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

31 August 2019 - The Jazz Bay Herceg Novi Festival, which traditionally gathers many renowned jazz artists, will be held on September 01 and 02, 2019.

Jazz Bay Herceg Novi Festival will bring eminent regional, European and international jazz musicians to Montenegro. Still, since the founding of the festival, the organisers intended to promote as many Montenegrin jazz artists as possible, especially those who have perfected their musical knowledge at prestigious music colleges.

This year's festival will begin on Sunday, September 1st, with the performance of young Montenegrin jazz artist Iva Kostić with CAUSTIC boiz from 9 pm in the Park Hall. This will mark Iva’s first concert in Herceg Novi, at which she will promote the debut album "Đorđijana".

On the second night of the festival, prominent regional and European jazz pianist and composer Zvezdan Ružić and Sextet will be introduced to the audience in Herceg Novi. After the concert, the organisers have prepared a Jam session, during which the audience will be able to enjoy a relaxed atmosphere and explore jazz standards and improvisation. The jamming session will take place from 9 pm to 1 am, in the cafe Boka. All guests will have the opportunity to dance to the sounds of the renowned Montenegrin jazz guitarist Miodrag Šula Jovović and his band.

The festival organisers have put great effort so that the two days of the festival program will enchant the audience, and that thanks to the Jazz Bay Festival, Herceg Novi will be on the map of jazz events as a cultural and tourist destination.

This year's edition of the Herceg Novi Comic Festival (HSF) is in many ways special including the announced exhibition "Herceg Novi in Comics", which is being realized in cooperation with the new Portonovi tourist complex in Kumbor.

The exhibition will be opened on Friday, August 30, 2019, at 8:00 pm at Perla square in Portonovi.

The exhibition premieres promotional posters made by this year's special guests of the Herceg Novi Strip Festival, as well as a retrospective of the best works of the previous twelve years of our event.

Let’s recall that this year’s HSF special guests whose promotional posters will be displayed on Portonovi stands are Enrique Breccia, Mario Alberti, Andrea di Vito, Pasquale del Vecchio, Vanessa Balardo, Rufus Daiglo, Bo Cook, Simon Davis, Raul Allen, Javier Fernandes, Stef Bartolic and Leonid Pilipovic, who will lead an army of 50 other guests from the world's top comic book artists and theorists. The Herceg Novi strip festival is celebrating its 13th edition this year and starts on September 6th.

Text by Boka News, on August 27th, 2019, read more at Boka News

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.

25 August 2019 - Budva won the City Games 2019 - Budva at the outdoor pools last night in Budva. The city was ruled by the great City Games euphoria broadcast live by the RTCG. The dramatic finale of the tenth season of popular water games was organized by the Budva Tourist Board and the Adria Events Agency. The version of the widely known Games Without Borders has once again justified its expectations with new scenery and numerous surprises for both the audience and the contestants in the final competition of Montenegro, as stated from the City Games Press Team.

In front of a crowded grandstand, six magnificent teams measured their strength and skill: Herceg Novi, Bar, Kotor, Podgorica, Tivat and Budva.

Teams competed in modern versions of fun traditional City Games such as wine, flying water polo, tourist rescue, ham, water basketball and paddle. The teams came with a great desire to win and represent their city in the best light. The fight was fierce, interesting and dynamic until the very end.

In the first game, where men have to bring grapes over barriers to a barrel where girls make wine, the Tivat team undoubtedly won the most points. In the next three games, the excellent team from Budva took over the safe lead as remained until the very end, with it winning gold medals, a cup and participation at the International City Games finals in Slovenia in 2020.

The Podgorica team woke up in the fifth game of water basketball, in which they scored the most points. The team from Herceg Novi lost most of the games in front of the Budva team, keeping the power for the last game paddle by scoring the most points, which also decided them to win second place. The bronze medals around the neck were proudly placed by the members of Tivat team who fought for third place with the team from Kotor.

For more information, the official website is www.city-games.com and the games can be followed on Facebook.