Montenegro’s tourism industry continued to play a central role in the national economy in 2024, although the sector recorded lower revenue despite broadly stable international visitor activity. The latest OECD tourism profile shows that tourism remains a major source of foreign income, while infrastructure limitations, seasonality and weak domestic demand continue to affect the structure of the market. Travel exports accounted for 54.6% of Montenegro’s total service exports in 2024. Preliminary figures from the Central Bank of Montenegro estimated tourism revenue at €1.5 billion, representing a 3.1% decline compared with 2023.
Commercial accommodation facilities registered 2.5 million international tourists during 2024, producing 15.0 million overnight stays. Serbia remained the largest foreign market, accounting for 18.4% of overnight stays, followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina with 8.5% and the Russian Federation with 8.1%. Domestic visitors represented only 3.9% of overnight stays in commercial accommodation. This structure leaves Montenegro dependent on foreign visitor demand, transport links, regional economic conditions and spending patterns in external markets.
Revenue Performance Highlights Spending and Seasonality Pressures
The decline in tourism revenue despite stable international arrivals points to the importance of visitor expenditure, pricing and length of stay. Montenegro’s tourism sector remains heavily concentrated in the summer season, making annual financial performance sensitive to coastal demand and the strength of foreign consumer spending.
The Tourism Strategy for 2022–2025 identifies sustainable management, innovative products, green tourism, inclusion, higher tourist spending, lower seasonality and reduced regional disparities as key policy objectives. The Ministry of Tourism leads tourism policy, while the National Tourism Organisation and local tourism organisations are involved in destination management and product development.
A seasonal coordination body involving ministries, municipalities, state-owned enterprises and businesses meets monthly to prepare and monitor tourism operations. The National Tourism Council, established in December 2022, is responsible for supporting tourism standards, destination positioning and the investment environment.
Tourism Budget Supports Institutions and Capital Projects
Montenegro’s 2025 tourism budget allocated €3.9 million to the Ministry of Tourism, €3.2 million to the National Tourism Organisation and €9.9 million for capital projects. These allocations are linked to wider investment needs in transport, utilities, digital systems, workforce development and destination infrastructure.
The 2025 Action Plan included measures related to institutional capacity, inspection services, coordination, digital solutions, tourism infrastructure and superstructure, product diversification, human resources, destination management and marketing. Tourism operations depend on public systems that extend beyond accommodation, including road access, airport capacity, water supply, wastewater systems, waste management and local government services. Seasonal congestion and pressure on infrastructure remain particularly relevant along the coast. Investment requirements continue to include transport connections, public utilities, inspection capacity and improvements in public-space management.
Tax Incentives Expand Higher-Category Hotel Capacity
Montenegro applies a standard VAT rate of 21% and a reduced VAT rate of 15% for hospitality services, including accommodation. The tax framework has also included incentives for hotel investment, including exemptions from import VAT for goods and services used in five-star hotel construction. Additional measures include reduced real-estate property tax for hotels operating throughout the year and exemptions from municipal land-development fees for selected five-star projects. These incentives were introduced through hotel-construction tax reforms in 2012.
Since the reforms, Montenegro has added 38 five-star hotels with approximately 5,560 beds and 155 four-star hotels with around 17,400 beds. More than half of Montenegro’s hotels are now classified as four-star or five-star properties, compared with less than one-quarter in 2012. The expansion of higher-category accommodation has changed the structure of the hotel market, but the sector remains dependent on seasonal demand. The economic contribution of premium hotel capacity is linked to employment, supplier networks, visitor spending, public revenue and the ability of destinations to operate beyond peak summer months.
Digital Systems Target Informal Tourism Activity
Digitalisation has become an important part of Montenegro’s tourism policy. The Ministry of Tourism and UNIDO are implementing the Tourism Industry 4.0 project, focused on digital innovation in cultural heritage, 3D digitisation and digital storytelling.
The project is intended to support SMEs in tourism, culture and related industries through the use of digital technologies, development of higher-value products and improved business competitiveness. It is also connected to efforts to expand tourism products beyond accommodation and seasonal coastal activity.
Montenegro adopted a new Tourist Information System in July 2025. The system is intended to enable automatic monitoring, better record-keeping, improved transparency, faster administrative procedures, reduced administrative burdens and stronger identification of informal tourism activity.
Unregistered accommodation and informal tourism activity affect tax collection, market competition and tourism data quality. The new system is expected to provide more reliable information for public authorities, municipalities and tourism organisations.
Energy Efficiency Incentives Focus on Hotels and Rural Facilities
Montenegro has launched, with EU support, a programme to establish a financial mechanism for improving energy efficiency and increasing renewable-energy use in hotels. Priority is given to accommodation facilities operating throughout the year and hotels located in the northern region.
Eligible measures include building-energy improvements, heating and cooling systems, water-heating equipment, lighting upgrades, solar electricity systems and energy-management capacity. A separate incentive programme for catering facilities in households and rural households provides refunds of up to €20,000 per applicant. The programme links tourism investment with lower operating costs, energy performance and renewable-energy development. It also supports accommodation projects outside the main coastal tourism areas.
Northern Tourism Projects Target Year-Round Activity
The development of northern Montenegro remains a major element of national tourism planning. The government has identified sports infrastructure, winter tourism, recreational tourism, health tourism and nature-based tourism as priority areas for diversification.
Projects planned or under development include Žarski Ski Resort, Cmiljača Ski Resort, Štedim–Hajla Ski Resort, further modernisation of Kolašin 1600 and Savin Kuk, and the tourism and speleological development of Đalovića Cave.
The projects include roads, access routes, parking areas, electricity infrastructure, telecommunications, water supply, wastewater systems and hospitality facilities. They are intended to expand tourism activity beyond the coast and support economic development in northern municipalities.
Montenegro’s tourism sector remained a major contributor to services exports, investment activity and employment in 2024. The sector generated €1.5 billion in revenue and recorded 2.5 million international tourists, while infrastructure needs, seasonal concentration and the limited share of domestic tourism remained important factors for future tourism policy and investment planning.
