Tour operators from the Baltic countries are interested in including Montenegrin ski centers in their tourist programs and packages. The National Tourist Organization (NTO) realized a study visit of tour operators from the Baltic countries, who stayed in Montenegro during this week.
“It is about a group of nine most important tour operators and travel agencies from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. The aim of this study visit is to familiarize Baltic tour operators with the winter tourism offer, and the program was focused on the central and northern regions of Montenegro, and especially the ski centers”, the announcement states.
During the five-day visit, they had the opportunity to visit Podgorica, where they visited the Šipčanik wine cellar, then Nikšić, Kolašin and Žabljak. Among the ski centers, they visited Kolašin 1600, Savin kuk and Vučje.
According to the representative of tour operator Marco Polo Celojumi, Andzejs Reiters, tour operators from the Baltic countries are very interested in including Montenegrin ski resorts in their programs, considering that Baltic tourists are interested in the winter tourist offer of Montenegro.
“I am in Montenegro for the first time and this visit is full of pleasant surprises. I am most impressed by the variety of the offer. You have so much to offer, both during the winter and summer months, a huge number of outdoor activities. I would like to include ski resorts in our agency’s travel programs,” Reiters said.
He stated that the ratio of prices and quality in the ski centers is attractive, and they are well connected to the capital, which is also interesting.
“Food is a special story, from home cooking in the north, delicious cheeses, good meat, kachamak, I don’t know what’s tastier,” Reiters added.
Mete Oun and Marlin Veskim from the travel agency Reisiraket OU are also in Montenegro for the first time.
As they stated, Montenegro offers a handful of opportunities for an active vacation.
“We visited very nice ski centers and very high-quality hotels. The good thing is that in a small place it is possible to visit several different ski centers, enjoy excellent food and excellent wines. We are extremely satisfied with the prices. Because of all this, we believe that Montenegro has excellent potential as a winter tourist destination”, stated the representatives of the travel agency Reisiraktett OU.
The representative of tour operator Latvia Tours, Arta Zekmen, pointed out the great potential of Montenegro’s winter tourist offer.
Zekmen stated that they viewed Montenegro as primarily a summer tourist destination, and that they were pleasantly surprised by its offer during the winter months.
Natali Maltseva, representing the tour operator Alani from Latvia, pointed out that Montenegro enjoys increasing popularity among tourists from the Baltic countries, and that she would be happy to present Montenegro as an ideal winter destination to their users.
“This is one of the most exciting journeys for me. I have been hearing stories about Montenegro for a long time and was eagerly anticipating the trip, but this exceeded expectations. NTO thought of all the details and we really experienced this wonderful destination in an incredible way. This truly unique destination has it all – beautiful nature, rich history and culture, excellent hotel facilities, professional service and friendly people. Because of all that, we can’t wait to present this to our users,” said Malceva.
During this study visit, a business workshop was also held, with the aim of connecting domestic tourism entrepreneurs with foreign tour operators.
On that occasion, the honorary consul of Montenegro in Latvia, Helena Ruduša, pointed out that a lot has been done in the field of promoting Montenegro in the Baltic countries, and she is especially pleased that on this occasion tour operators had the opportunity to see a different Montenegro, its beauty in winter.
“Back in October of the previous year, NTO realized a study visit of tour operators from the Baltic countries, which was very successful. Now they have the opportunity to discover the northern and central part of the country. The active vacation offer was not that well known, and based on what they saw, there is a lot of interest. We hope that in the future we will have direct flights throughout the whole year, so we would ensure a large number of tourists during the winter months, concluded Ruduša.
The study visit was realized through the project Innovative cross-border cluster of small and medium-sized enterprises in the field of tourism – Innotour clust, which was implemented by NTO within the IPA cross-border program Italy – Albania – Montenegro.
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