January 4, 2019 - "From Christmas to Christmas," the original and recognizable Kotor manifestation, after content organized before the Rock New Year program, continues today and lasts till 8 January, reminds NGO "Karampana."

03 January 2019 - This year, Montenegro confirmed the epithet of one of the main destinations in the region for the celebration of New Year's Eve, thanks to rich multi-day programs that have been organized on city squares for more than two decades and an attractive offer of hotels and winter tourist centres.

The magnificent celebration and performances of many popular local and regional music stars of various genres, in Kotor, Herceg Novi, Tivat, Budva, Bar, and Podgorica, according to estimates, attracted over 42,000 visitors during New Year's Eve, mostly from the country and the region, but also from other European countries.

In the year which marked the Jubilee 20 years since the first organized celebration of the New Year’s Eve at the Square, Budva, which carries the epithet of regional best entertainment for the holidays celebration, recorded a record attendance of over 28,000 visitors during New Year's Eve and over 75,000 guests who visited Budva during five festive days and nights, according to the estimates of the local Tourist Organization of Budva.

Great attendance was recorded at the other coastal towns and the Capital, which organized a rich New Year's program that included entertaining, cultural and artistic contents, performances, concerts, and animation program for children, Christmas bazaars, skating rinks, daily shows of classical, traditional music and the like.

Montenegrin winter tourist centres - Žabljak and Kolašin, are traditionally particularly attractive for New Year's Eve and noted the maximum occupancy during the holidays. Hotels that organised a celebratory program had many requests for guests without reservations. The winter season was open starting mid-December, so all visitors to these cities can enjoy winter walks, skiing, snowboarding, walking on snowshoes, and many innovations such as Nordic skiing trails in these cities, adventure parks and a national restaurant at the Black Lake.

02 January 2018 - This year's Forbes list of the best budget destinations offers something for every type of traveller. Aside from San Antonio in Texas, USA and Taipei in Taiwan, the popular business magazine included the Balkan Peninsula, and Herceg Novi in the 18 best budget destinations for 2019.

Some people may not be able or willing to spend much money, but wish to travel around the world anyhow. The ever-growing travel wish lists are definitely putting a lot of pressure on our budget. Luckily, there are plenty of destinations where you can get all the options you dream about without breaking the bank.

There are many tips and tricks on keeping expenses low while travelling, such as travelling around cities by foot, cycling, hitchhiking, using cheaper options when it comes to public transport, camping, buying food and necessities in supermarkets, self-catering, visiting free museums, galleries, joining group tours etc. Another way to save money is to calculate or evaluate a travel budget before the departure. It certainly helps to know the budget and the cost of living of the country you are traveling to.

It is also beneficial to learn about cheap destinations that can make your dreams a reality. Alexandra Talty, the senior contributor to Forbes Magazine, recently wrote an article on “The 18 Best Budget Travel Destinations For 2019”. As she wrote in the article, from the Philippines to Armenia, this list of the best budget travel destinations has something to offer to every kind of traveller.  The article explains that many places can provide an outsized experience that is still affordable to many.

Talty’s List of Budget Travel Destinations for 2019 includes Herceg Novi as the most representative budget destination of this part of Europe. She wrote that if a traveller wants to experience Europe on a budget, she would recommend exploring the Balkan Peninsula. Talty considers that Croatia is the most popular Balkan country, but it can be quite expensive, so she recommends starting a trip around the Balkan Peninsula in Herceg Novi, Montenegro!

The journalist quoted traveller expert’s review of their visit to Montenegro: “I spent five days in Montenegro last year, and I felt like it was never enough. We went on a boat tour to Perast, Porto Montenegro, Our Lady of the Rocks and wrapped up the trip by kayaking and paddle boarding on the beach nearby. Other fun activities include paragliding and diving. The best part is that all of these activities are way cheaper compared to other European cities.”

List of Budget Travel Destinations for 2019 also includes San Antonio (Texas), Puebla (Mexico), Hawaii (USA), St. Helena, Province of Laguna (the Philippines), Agra (India), Budapest (Hungary), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Gobi Desert (Mongolia), South Africa, Zanzibar, Armenia, Serbia, Transylvania (Romania), George Town (Malaysia), Moscow (Russia) and Taipei (Taiwan).

31 December 2018 - The Belgrade band Riblja Čorba introduced several thousand people of Herceg Novi and its guests to 2019. For the first time, the Herceg Novi Tourist Organization organized a reception on the plateau in front of the hotel Igalo and impressed visitors very successfully.

Riblja Čorba, a rock/hard rock band, formed four decades ago, was in its element, warming the audience, after a heavy storm, performing hits: „Kad hodaš“, „Kad sam bio mlad“, „Poslednja pesma o tebi“, „Rekla je“, „Lutka sa naslovne strane“, „Kada padne noć“, „Amsterdam“, „Gde si u ovom glupom hotelu“, „Nemoj da ideš mojom ulicom“ etc.

The audience sang both old and new songs composed by Bora Đorđević. In the breaks, he even read his humorous verses from the books he recently published.  Pre-band "Light under the Black Mountain" also had a great performance and left audience impressed.

At midnight Santa Claus descended from the roof of Sole Mar building, while the fireworks made a magnificent experience. The actor Miloš Pejović and the best women basketball player of Montenegro, Dragana Živković congratulated the New Year's to the world.

"It is great, full parking, one-way street is all shaky, vibrant. Trade houses came with various offerings, and there were 6,000 of us for sure," as confirmed by few of the guests.

The Tourist Organization of Herceg Novi said that they are satisfied that everything went well during New Year's Eve with Jelena Rozga and tonight with Riblja Čorba.

31 December 2018 - "Budva is Monte Carlo of this part of the world, here I feel at home and I have additional responsibility to make a special concert every time in Budva, so that you can expect something completely new tonight," Dino Merlin announced a day before the New Year’s Eve. It was a concert to remember, starting with lasers that cut through the cool air within the city, through the visualizations that followed every gesture and movement, the new arrangements, dancers, perfect backing vocals, all the way to Dino Merlin himself, a singer so cheerful, who made a real connection with the guests, the perfect professional who stayed on the stage for over two hours and really left his heart with the audience.

With the song “Hajde noćas mi dođi, svega mi donesi” and gorgeous fireworks, the locals from Budva, numerous visitors from all the countries of the region and other cities of Montenegro, entered the New Year 2019. The band "Jack Lupino & Leftovers" from Budva was given the opportunity to present itself to the audience last night for the first time for New Year celebration, followed by the rock band “Aerodrom”, who reminded all visitors of their good, old hits.

The celebratory program at the main city square started on Friday, December 28 at 9 pm, when local hip hop band "Most wanted" entertained the crowd. The atmosphere only got better with "Who see", the well-known Montenegrin duo, while the culmination of the evening was the performance of the “Beogradski sindikat", when numerous fans sang all the songs and lit several torches.

The following day was marked with a complete change in the genre of the performances, and an even greater number of visitors. On the occasion of the great jubilee, the 20th anniversary of the celebration of the New Year at the square, the second day of the Budva musical spectacle began with the performance of the ethno band "Zora" from Bar. The bard of folk music Halid Bešlić held a concert that will be the main conversation topic of numerous visitors for a long time, while Marija Šerifović only continued the concert program in the spirit of good energy and quality interpretation. Many guests commented that December 29 was celebrated just like New Year's Eve.

A completely new performance in Budva, and probably in whole Montenegro took place on the third night, Sunday, December 30, when local DJs Urketone and John K warmed up the audience, after which the stage was taken over by the Turkish-Dutch producer and DJ Burak Jeter. The famous DJ from Amsterdam managed to transfer great energy from the stage to the audience that filled the city square for two hours.

One of the most important DJs in the history of electronic music, British DJ and producer Daren Emerson - a former member of "Underworld", came to the stage at midnight, and the night reached its peak. The audience was thrilled, and the celebration went on deep into the night.

The evening  of January 1 from 9 pm will bring a rock party, and it is to be expected that despite the cold weather, the bands "Akademia", "Partibrejkers" and "Van Gogh" will warm up all visitors of Budva.

31 December 2018 - Tens of thousands of people welcomed the New Year 2019 at the square in front of the Old Town in Budva, according to the Tourist Organization of Budva. Director Maja Liješević pointed out that the hotels in Budva recorded an occupancy rate of almost 90%, while private accommodation was mostly reserved for guests from the countries of the region.

The New Year celebration in Budva started with "Jack Lupino and the Leftovers", after which the crowd welcomed “Aerodrom", one of the most famous bands of Yugoslavia. The locals and tourists had the opportunity to enter the year 2019 with the songs of Dino Merlin.

The representatives of Tourist Organization of Budva consider that their effort paid off, that the program was planned and  implemented in the right way to satisfy a broad auditorium and different age structure of visitors. They also highlighted that even thought the program was rich in performances, it did not lose quality, which was the intention of the organizers.

On the eve of December 31, Budva welcomed guests from all over the region, not only from Montenegro. It is not accidental that on the year Budva is celebrating its 20th anniversary of organizing the New Year's Eve in the city square, the program will last for five days. The three previous nights (December 28,29 and 30) were a really good overture and had a great guest attendance, but the crown night with the best atmosphere and quality was the New Year’s Eve.

Daily programs in Budva and Petrovac were mainly aimed at the youngest visitors who enjoyed theatre plays from the Budva Drama Studio, actors from the City Theatre from Podgorica and "UV Dance" from Belgrade, but also at some of the older guests who appreciate the sound of city orchestras and coastal bands.

Source: RTCG

December 28, 2018 - Via Ferrata Kotor is open to all interested lovers of a healthy lifestyle and adrenaline entertainment. Montagna Travel Montenegro Agency, which manages the trail, has made sure to enrich the winter season in Boka Bay, where citizens and guests do not have a lot of outdoor activities during winter months. On the occasion of the holiday and the winter school break, they offered promotional prices under the weekend action, which will last until the beginning of March. You can go uphill tomorrow, and the next offer is January 5th and 6th.

Via Ferrata represents a secured mountain trail that through the help of cables and metal galleys crosses difficult parts of mountainous massifs. Ferrates are suitable not only for professional alpinists but also for people of average physical fitness who are not active in hiking and sports.

29 December 2018 - A group of deputies of the ruling coalition has recently submitted an amendment to the Draft Law on the Government budget, which envisages new aid to the flag carrier Montenegro Airlines (MA) of 5,5 million EUR. That is just one of a dozen amendments that were submitted to the bill, reports Montenegrin news agency, Dan.

Namely, in the explanation of the Draft Law, it is stated that the funds above will be provided to Montenegro Airlines if legal requirements for the use of funds are met, all to fulfil the obligations of this company.

The explanation of the submitted amendment also states that the Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs, headed by Osman Nurković, submitted an updated request to the Ministry of Finance on December 25 on the above issue.

It is expected that in the forthcoming period the amendment will be accepted and the company will receive new budget support. Last year (2017), the company acquired 15 million EUR from the state, while it is unclear whether the country provided aid to MA in 2018. Montenegro Airlines currently has an accumulated deficit of over 70 million EUR.

Montenegro Airlines is the flag carrier of Montenegro that operates scheduled and charter services throughout Europe from its hub at Podgorica Airport with a second base maintained at Tivat Airport. The company has an excellent reputation for a safe and reliable carrier, and the country decided to provide all the support Montenegro Airlines needs in overcoming its financial difficulties.

28 December 2018 - Preparations for the first organized New Year's Eve celebration in the open air in Igalo, in the parking lot in front of the former hotel Igalo, are all being completed as planned.

According to the director of the local Tourist Organisation, Pavle Obradović, the reservations and sale of the arrangements in this community are excellent. The Palmond Bay, the Lighthouse Hotel, as well as many larger apartments, are all fully booked. The representatives of the TO expressed regret that the Institute “Dr Simo Milošević” is not open for the holidays because they predict that its rooms would probably be fully booked as well. They also mentioned that they have high expectations for the next season.

The concert stage in Igalo is already set up. During the three festive nights, traffic through Sava Ilić Street, from the intersection (where the Tamaris Hotel used to be) to Hotel Vojvodina, will be banned for all motor vehicles an hour before the start of the program, Obradović explained. The Official Decision on the lease of eight portable booths on the promenade in Igalo, across the street from the Youth Park, as well of the two on the Škver (English: Square) was already signed.

New Year's program in Igalo will begin on December 30 with the performance of Split pop singer Jelena Rozga. The stage will then be taken over by the band Light under the black mountain. The citizens of Herceg Novi and tourists will enter the new 2019 with the sounds of the rock band Riblja čorba. The program on Monday, January 1, will begin with the band Toć, and the midnight is reserved for the performance of the biggest Montenegrin music star, Sergej Ćetković.