27 October 2019 - Winter season operations of the national carrier Montenegro Airlines begin on October 27th, 2019 and will be valid until March 28th, 2020.

According to the official statement published on the company’s website, Montenegro Airlines will be making minor amendments to its 2019/2020 winter season operations.

The carrier will continue to operate scheduled services from Podgorica to Belgrade, Frankfurt, Ljubljana, Paris, Rome, Vienna and Zurich. From Podgorica to Belgrade, flights will operate twice a day on all days except Fridays, when MA planes will fly three times a day. Montenegro Airlines planes will fly from Tivat to Belgrade once a day on all days, and Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays twice a day.

For the second consecutive year, the airline will increase frequencies between Podgorica and Ljubljana, with an additional two weekly rotations (Mondays and Thursdays) for a total of six. The company will also add an extra weekly flight from Podgorica to Frankfurt and Paris, as well as from Tivat to Moscow during the holiday travel period, between mid-December and mid-January. Furthermore, the airline will run charter flights to Italy (Bari and Naples).

As for the other regular flights operated by MA throughout the year, there will be no significant changes, except for the period around New Year's and Christmas holidays, when additional rotations are introduced due to increased demand.

This winter season, Montenegro Airlines will maintain operations with four aircraft - three Embraer E195s and one Fokker 100 jet, reports EX YU Aviation. The second F100, which has been grounded with an engine issue since May, is unlikely to be returned to service. Although the carrier is yet to detail its future fleet plans, it is believed this winter will mark the last for the remaining F100, which is approaching retirement and will be replaced by a leased Embraer jet next summer. The Montenegrin carrier is currently in the process of finalising a commercial strategy that will define the company’s development over the next three to five years in terms of its destination network and fleet structure.

Tivat Municipality will host an Open Fun Football School - a sporting and educational project for boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 12 years that also brings together dozens of trainers and coaches.

The Open Football School will be held on Friday, 18th November at 10.30 am, at the main Stadium of the Arsenal Football Club in Tivat.

The main idea behind the Open Football School is to get together, play and improve your football skills, as well as to enjoy the game, Tivat Municipality states.

Partnering with the Tivat Municipality in the project is the Arsenal Football Club, which brings together over 200 children of various ages, and NGO “Sport Spaja” (Sport Connects), an organisation that works with the Danish “Cross Cultures Project” football school, responsible for organising fun football schools around the world.

Last year, six open football schools were organised in Montenegro, and sporting equipment was distributed in six towns, in total 750 footballs and 90 sets of kit for coaches and school instructors.

Over 1,600 boys and girls have so far participated in the football schools.

The event will be opened by Darka Ognjanović, MA, Secretariat for Youth, Sport and Social Affairs, Tivat Municipality.

Source: Radio Jadran

From the 16th to the 19th of October, Tivat will host the prestigious Private Luxury Forum, bringing together 100 representatives and 85 agents from the elite sector of the tourist industry. The Forum will gather the most eminent European professionals dealing in sales of luxury travel arrangements, representatives of luxury hotels and hotel chains, alongside prestige concierge companies.

“It is an honour for us to have the opportunity to host the best agents directly in Tivat, and through organising such a complex event to present Montenegro, which over the last decade has truly established itself as a prestigious destination. We are grateful to the organisers for accepting the initiative of the Hotel Regent management two years ago, and for enabling us to host the professional elite in the field of luxury tourist travel next week. In addition to a high-quality programme, agents will experience Montenegro through a range of activities showing not only the best the destination offers, but also elements of the lifestyle in the region. We look forward, as a serious partner-destination, to showing our professional, organisational and spatial capacity for holding this Forum. The fact that the Forum is being held here is confirmation of the continued development of Montenegro as a year-round luxury destination. Agents visiting the Forum will add Montenegro to their range of products and, according to the organisers, the destination will benefit from $7.2 million of additional revenue over the next three years,” stated Ivan Gajić, Director of Sales at the Hotel Regent Porto Montenegro, on the significance of organising such a high-profile event in Montenegro.

Montenegro, as a host, joins the ranks of established destinations such as Riviera Maya, Tenerife, Malaysia, Vienna, Istanbul and Florida. Partners of the project are Porto Montenegro, The National Tourist Organisation, The Chedi Luštica Bay Hotel, Tivat Municipality, Talas M agency and Yellow Events.

11 October 2019 - On October 3rd, Jet2.com and Jet2holidays announced new direct services to Tivat in Montenegro, with flights and holidays going on sale from London Stansted and Manchester Airports.

The announcement marks the first time that Jet2.com has operated flights direct to Montenegro, a destination that features everything from golden beaches and cool bars to whitewashed villages and rugged national parks. Currently accessible from Dubrovnik, the launch of this brand new route now gives holidaymakers direct access to Montenegro with Jet2.com and Jet2holidays.

The airline will operate up to two weekly services (Thursday and Sunday) to Tivat from each base, with services running from May through to October.

Located on the west coast of the Balkan Peninsula, Tivat opens up an array of dazzling options for holidaymakers, including resorts such as stylish Budva, chilled-out Bečići and the stunning Herceg Novi. The classy coastal town of Tivat itself is nearby, as is the jaw-dropping Kotor Bay.

This is Jet2.com’s third brand new route for Summer 20, in addition to Preveza (Greece) and Zadar (Croatia).

Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays said: “The introduction of services to Tivat means that we are operating direct flights to Montenegro for the first time. With stunning scenery, a wonderful climate, and fantastic resorts such as Budva and Bečići on offer, we are expecting this destination to be hugely popular with holidaymakers. Yet again, Jet2.com and Jet2holidays are giving holidaymakers and independent travel agents even more choice and flexibility when it comes to booking our award-winning flights and holidays.”

Low-cost carrier Jet2 will enter the Montenegrin market in 2020 with the launch of two new routes to Tivat. The airline will inaugurate two weekly flights from Manchester and London Stansted starting May 21. Both will be operated with a 189-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The announcement marks the first time the leisure airline and package holiday specialist has operated flights to Montenegro.

"The Balkan beauty of Montenegro sits beside neighbours Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Majestic mountains stand proud against brilliant beaches, with terracotta-topped towns in between. You’ll find laid-back rural areas alongside upmarket marinas too. Sound up your street? Let us show you more…," says the open invitation of the Jet2 company to all interested travellers to visit Montenegro and its beauty.

Tickets are already available for purchase on the airline's website.

Get more information on when and how to visit Montenegro at TMN's dedicated page.

September 15, 2019 - Continuing our look at the real estate opportunities in Montenegro in association with RE/MAX, a trip to Tivat for the latest Property of the Week. 

The real estate fortunes of Tivat have been transformed more than anywhere else in Montenegro over the last 15 years since the arrival of Porto Montenegro. Once a small sleepy town, the 500 million euro investment of Porto Montenegro has not only put Tivat on the luxury tourism map, but the trickle-down effect on real estate in the surrounding area has been significant, and today Tivat is one of the most sought-after places to own property in Montenegro.  

And where better than Bjelila, just outside Tivat, from where this week's Property of the Week focuses a 3-bedroomed villa with pool and sea view. Its 212m2 of property on a 503m2 plot is priced at 450,000 euro and is presented by RE/MAX as follows:

It's not difficult to fall in love with this imposing villa perched on a slight slope that commands the views across lush Mediterranean greenery to the sea and mountains!

 The architectural style of this “belle” is a clue that behind the seductive Mediterranean and modern exteriors lies the house with an equally cozy but also state-of-the-art interior. 

Inviting interior reflects comfortable living at the coast, while the soft, light beige and blue color palette meet the airy, bright spaces, large glass surfaces, as well as natural design elements such as wood and stone.

It seems that in this villa timeless coastal charm marries the modern look with youthful edge. This makes this property an ideal home for everyone: families, couples and individuals!

Features:

- Internal area 190 m2

- Terraces 12 m2

- External area: 44 m2

- Plot size: 503 m2

- Living room

- Sitting room

- Open plan (kitchen, living room, dining room)

- Laundry

- Storage

- 2 Hallways

- Office (Study)

- 3 bathrooms(3showers)

- 4 toilettes

- 3 balconies

- Terrace

- 4 AC-s

- Garden

- Backyard

- Fridge and freezer

- Washing facilities

- Fire alarm 

- Barbecue area / outdoor cooking

- Private environment

For more information, photos and to book a viewing, visit the original RE/MAX listing. 

Tivat will be marking European Mobility Week (16th to 22nd September) with a number of activities that promote sustainable transport and call for us to change our relationship with the way we travel. This year, European Mobility Week is organised around the theme of safe walking and cycling with the slogan "Walk With Us!"

Organised by the Secretariat for Utilities, Transport and Energy Efficiency, with assistance from the Secretariat for Planning and Sustainable Development, events marking the European initiative will begin on Monday, 16th September with a round table entitled “Photovoltaic Potential in Local Communities as a factor for Increasing Energy Efficiency, Urban Mobility and Social Responsibility”. The aim of the event is to encourage the use of solar energy in transport.

On Tuesday, 17th September, a “Street Day” is planned, with a two-hour road closure in the centre of the town to promote environmental, social, cultural and recreational activity.

In order to introduce children to the significance of protected natural goods, spending time in nature and to promote renewable energy sources, an Eco Camp and visit for elementary school children to the protected natural area “Ulcinjska Solana” (Ulcinj Salt Pond) and “Možura” wind farm will be held on Wednesday, 18th September.

The “All Aboard the Catamaran” event, and free trip on solar-powered boats offering passenger services from Tivat, will be offered on Thursday, 19th September.

The following day, on II Dalmatinska Street between 9 and 11am there will be a competition in cycling proficiency for elementary school children, and also an art workshop on the theme “Overcome Obstacles - Ride a Bike” for preschoolers.

Promotion of climbing and hiking trails on Vrmac, as part of “Let’s Hike Together”, will be organised on the route Gornja Lastva - Saint Vitus - Gornja Lastva on Saturday, 21st September.

Vrmac – mikophotography

Sunday, 22nd September, or World Car Free Day, marks the final day of events, and is reserved for an international women’s cycle race and 5km fun run. Participants of this activity, which will be organised on the Pine Promenade - Donja Lastva - Pine Promenade route, will be from Fancy Women Bike Ride and Tivat Athletics Club.

European Mobility Week is an event to promote alternative means of transport to fossil fuel-run vehicles. The aim of the Week is, through promotional events and adoption of at least one sustainable urban mobility measure, to improve efforts to reduce the use of car transport and improve conditions for public transport, bicycles and pedestrians. 

Since its inception in 2002, the impact of European Mobility Week has been steadily increasing, both in Europe and around the world. The 2018 campaign broke its own record - 2,792 towns in 54 countries organised events as part of Mobility Week.

Tivat is marking the event for the fourth year running, and since the success of 2017, when it was nominated among the top three in the category of European Cities of up to 50,000 inhabitants, is continuing this year with an even more ambitious programme.

We invite everyone to join us once again for European Mobility Week!

03 September 2019 - According to the representatives of the Airports of Montenegro, the capacities of airports in Podgorica and Tivat will be expanded soon.

Director of the Airports of Montenegro, Danilo Orlandić recently announced the expansion of Podgorica Airport capacities, as well the Terminal 2 expansion at Tivat Airport. According to Orlandić, Podgorica Airport will be expanded by 1,000 square meters, and it will have six new check-in counters.

The Airports of Montenegro will complete several expansions at both the airport in Podgorica and Tivat to cope with continuous passenger growth.

In an interview for CdM, Orlandić explained that the topic of night flights at Tivat Airport is of great importance, and that two renowned companies have expressed interest in the implementation of the project – Paris Aéroport and Airbus.

"We had one public call. We have been contacted by three of the world's most serious players. However, as they do business under Anglo-Saxon law, we were not allowed to carry out the tender because of the legal formalities. Afterward, we initiated a negotiating procedure with the Ministry of Finance without launching a public call. We received offers from two major companies (Paris Aéroport and Airbus). We will decide in the next few days, "the chairman of the Airport of Montenegro said.

Tivat Airport night flights, according to the existing estimations, might be launched within a year or a year and a half. Orlandić emphasized that the newly-built Terminal 2 at Tivat Airport has already brought many benefits: “The construction of the Terminal 2 at Tivat Airport cost around 4 million USD and we will pay it off by the end of the next summer season.”

The company plans to expand Terminal 2 at Tivat Airport by about 300 square meters next year.

Montenegro, as confirmed by Orlandić, now has excellent airline connections. Still, the head of the Airports of Montenegro announced new airlines and even more connections in the future.

He says that it is too early to confirm what the new destinations are, but he says there is a plan for a connection with Scandinavia, and it is possible that a direct airline will also be established with Amsterdam.

Orlandić also pointed out that the announcement of the Concession Act for Montenegrin Airports does not mean that the investments and service improvement at the airports in Tivat and Podgorica will seize. "On the contrary, we will achieve more and get better results. We will work every day as if there was no concession process," said Orlandić, emphasizing that Montenegrin Airports are state-owned and that ACG management will act in accordance with Government decisions.

Natasa Pejic, a Master of Philosophy from Belgrade, has been spending summers in Tivat, where she owns an apartment. She spoke with TMN about her view of this Bokelian town:

 "I have been coming to Tivat for the past three years, mostly during the summer. I enjoy it immensely and try to really relax and recharge for new challenges for the whole of next year, and it means great pleasure to me."

Natasa's first encounter with Tivat happened 30 years ago, of which she says:

"It was nice. I mostly went to Meljine at the time, and it was one of the few excursions outside of Herceg Novi that I accidentally made. I remember a wonderful experience as we, as young people, swam completely spontaneously and by chance to the settlement of Sveti Marko on the island across the town, where Club Mediteranne was at the time, and then the three of us went on foot around that club and it was really exciting for us and we returned swimming as if it was a complete joke. It's my first experience, my first encounter with Tivat. Then, about ten, or 15 years later, I came by boat to the waterfront Pine and I was completely impressed by how royal it looked, these palm trees, extraordinary! Now everything is fine in Tivat, I don't mind anything, which is quite unusual for me. I love the sea the most, sitting in a cafe and watching the bay, the sun shining on these waves, magical."

This is not something easy to compliment, as Natasha travelled around the world and lived in New York for several years, where she earned a master's degree in philosophy on "How to Define Mental Illness".

When it comes to this topic and in this region, Pejic says: “I think that it is not easy at all for us, it is mostly difficult for us to live, and our mental health is much worse than for many years ago, when we lived in a more serious state. Tivat reminds me of some seaside towns in Croatia where I used to spend time as a kid. I have some associations on Jelsa, at sea in the former Yugoslavia.”

Natasa Pejic worked for fifteen years as a journalist:

"I've worked for the Beta News Agency for the longest time, and I'm very proud of that. It is an independent news agency, which I have worked for since its founding in 1994. It was a pioneering venture amid a terrible regime, which imposed itself there, and Beta did a really mining part of the work in the media and contributed to the overthrow of the regime. I don't think Beta has ever been recognized enough for this, the glory went to B92 and some newspapers, and Beta was a fundamental contributor to independent journalism during Milosevic's time.

Natasa Pejic has been in the publishing business for the last few years and has her own small publishing house "Mali vrt":

"I've been in publishing for fifteen years. It is a small publishing company, which I own, and I do not have big ambitions. I publish what I would normally do, do English translations and have three editions so far. One deals with psychology, where I mainly translate the work of Carl Gustav Jung's followers. The second is an edition of poetry, there are classics of world poetry, which I enjoy, which my associate Aleksandar Šurbatović is doing and relatively recently I have an edition that deals with socio-political and economic topics. ”

In Tivat, Natasa is taking a break from Belgrade, where she has a lot of work, and if looking forward to seeing us next summer.

30 August 2019 - Matko Vekic is exhibiting at the Summerhouse Buća, it was announced from the Tivat Museum and Gallery. The Tivat Museum and Gallery have the special privilege of presenting the works of Croatian academic painter Matko Vekić, one of the most prominent individuals in Croatian painting in the last few decades. This solo exhibition is called „Vekić's Reflection of the Social Theatre“, which opens on September 3 at 9 pm. The exhibition will feature works from two cycles "Ordinary People - Internal Events" and "Mask of the Image of God".

The show will open the curator of Vekić's exhibition, Nevenka Šarčević and it will feature the author. The guitarist, Marko Prentic from Podgorica, will perform at the event.

Nevenka Šarčević on motives of Vekić's artistic opus points out: “With this exhibition, visitors will be able to gain immediate insight into the actuality of contemporary painting, the experience of Vekić's artistic progressiveness and commitment to individual and general civilization issues. The works of the cycle 'Ordinary People - Internal Events' show that the people of today are experiencing their own reality in a new way, and thus values ​​in this increasingly prevalent virtual reality. The images of the cycle 'Mask of the image of God' prompt one to think about how masks have been virtually immanent to man throughout history.

A direct approach to Matko Vekic's works will make it possible to see why his works are intriguing not only to professional but also to a wider audience.

We find motifs of Vekic's paintings in our everyday lives: like cars, bugs, the urban landscape of traffic loops and bridges, and he also paints terrorists, bodybuilders, football players and models, ornaments, masks, and more.

In addition to classic canvases, he exhibits installations inspired by the aesthetics of billboards and creates kinetic (moving) paintings ('The Sheep That Didn't Get Lost'). He establishes his thematic cycles conceptually and in an ambient way, which often points to the possibility of a doubtful understanding of the topics he presents as they complement each other in different relationships. This was representatively presented this year in the spacious gallery space of Lauba in Zagreb. "

The Lauba exhibition ("Doubts and Complementarities") is also featured in the video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMxUEsI1Fro

Matko Vekic was born in 1970 in Zagreb, where he graduated in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts (1995) in the class of Đuro Seder. He is currently employed by the same faculty as a professor. He has been noted at numerous solo (over 40) and collective exhibitions, and his works are featured in important public and private collections in Croatia and abroad. He is constantly receiving significant recognitions and awards for his work. He represented Croatia at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009, with painters Nikola Koydl and Zoltan Novak, as well as at the 10th and 12th Biennale in Cairo, 2006 and 2010.

The Municipality of Tivat supports the exhibition.