Montenegro is recording stronger tourist arrivals, but available data indicate growing pressure on tourism revenue per visitor, raising questions about the value generated by continued growth in visitor numbers.
Tourist Arrivals Continue to Increase
Montenegro recorded 93,376 tourist arrivals, an increase of 14% year-on-year and almost 12% above the level recorded in 2019. Foreign visitors accounted for the largest share of tourism activity, with international arrivals continuing to dominate the market. The country generated around €1.48 billion in foreign tourism revenue in 2025. However, revenue reached only €86.4 million in the first quarter of 2026, down around 2% year-on-year.
Coastal Destinations Remain Dominant
Collective accommodation facilities recorded 244,754 tourist arrivals and 1.08 million overnight stays in July 2026. Foreign tourists accounted for 91.6% of arrivals, while the coastal region generated 92.4% of overnight stays. Budva recorded more than 464,500 overnight stays, maintaining its position as the largest concentration of tourism activity. Visitors from Serbia accounted for around 25% of foreign overnight stays, followed by tourists from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United Kingdom, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and France.
Regional Market Remains Important
Montenegro continues to depend heavily on regional tourism, particularly during the summer season, when road traffic provides a major share of visitor access. Limited air connectivity and the relatively small amount of internationally marketed hotel capacity remain structural constraints. Hotels account for only around 6% of total accommodation capacity, while private apartments and second homes make up a much larger share. Annual occupancy across core commercial accommodation remains around 25%, indicating that much of the available capacity is not utilised throughout the year.
Revenue Growth Faces Structural Constraints
The structure of accommodation and visitor flows affects the amount of revenue generated by each tourist. The large role of private accommodation, including informal activity, makes the market more difficult to monitor and limits the availability of comprehensive commercial indicators.
Other constraints include price and quality differences, congestion, water supply and waste-management pressures, particularly in the coastal area. During peak periods, journeys between Budva, Tivat and Kotor can take several hours, adding further pressure to the main tourism corridor.
Tourism Performance Needs Broader Indicators
Tourism performance is increasingly dependent not only on the number of arrivals but also on indicators such as average daily rate (ADR), revenue per available room (RevPAR), occupancy, length of stay and visitor spending. There has been no comprehensive analysis of these commercial indicators since 2019, making it more difficult to assess how effectively rising visitor numbers are translating into higher economic returns.
Improved air connectivity, investment in higher-quality hotels, stronger destination management and better access to European tour operators could affect the structure of future tourism growth. Tighter regulation of private accommodation is also relevant to the sector’s overall performance.
Longer-Term Tourism Capacity
The performance of destinations such as Sveti Stefan remains relevant to Montenegro’s tourism positioning, while the wider sector continues to support foreign-currency earnings, employment, consumption and coastal property demand. Montenegro could record another increase in tourist arrivals in 2027, but the economic outcome will also depend on whether visitor growth generates higher spending and stronger revenue per tourist.
