April 9, 2019 - Kotor cannot develop a sustainable tourism offer without the construction of a hotel and the related infrastructure said tourism engineer Ivo Županović for Radio Kotor.
According to him, there are collisions in the concept of a tourism product of Kotor when it comes to primary macro-level strategic documents. In the Master Plan - Montenegro's Tourism Development Strategy by 2020 and the Draft Special Spatial Plan for the Coastal Zone of Montenegro, Županović further stated, Kotor is recognised as the destination of small and boutique hotels and in the market offer as a destination for cultural tourism. The draft plan of the coastal area identifies Kotor as a destination of cruise tourism.
Asked what he considers necessary for the further development of the city, Županović said that he is defined by the master plan - Montenegro's tourism development strategy by 2020 within the Boka Kotorska cluster.
"In practice, although I consider it to be the most efficient aspect of the organisation of the tourist product of Montenegro, the cluster organisational structure has never lived, and in this context the tourist cluster of Boka Kotorska. On the other hand, there is a collision on the one that defines the Master Plan - the Tourism Development Strategy of Montenegro by 2020 and the Draft Special Spatial Plan for the Coastal Zone of Montenegro in certain parts when it comes to the treatment of Kotor's tourism product.
Therefore, taking into account the above facts, in order to be able to talk more seriously about the strategic directions of the development of the tourism product of Kotor, I think it is necessary to conceptualize the official tourism development strategy in Kotor with the action plan and measures that would be monitored and implemented," explained Županović .
In his view, in the context of economic sustainability, Kotor has considerably greater potentials than those currently used.
"In the context of relaxation of the urban core, a better connection of cruise tourism and cultural tourism is needed, in the sense of visiting the ramparts, but not just the ramparts but the complete cultural-historical and religious fundraiser in Kotor. In this context, a clear destination policy and synergy of all in the destination is needed. The mentioned synergy inevitably results in the creation of a series of formal and informal clusters, marketing networks and alliances at the destination level. I think that the development of the models of primarily diffuse hotels, Kotor, significantly extended the time spent on guests when it comes to cultural and entertainment events and even some sports events at the national level," Županović says.
He recalls that the integrated tourism product is a derivative of three components: natural and social resources, traffic accessibility and receptive factors. "In particular, I think that Kotor has extraordinary natural preconditions for the development of congress and business tourism, as well as sports tourism. However, Kotor does not have adequate receptive potentials for the development of congress tourism, which is simply unobtrusive for me," Županović said.
"As an example there is Opatija, a geographically small city, which has exploited its market capacities, not poisoning the ambience or sociological sustainability of the destination. There are over 500 business conferences - seminars, congresses, and training sessions in the city. In the overall structure of business meetings, congresses participate with almost 50%. But besides a series of small and boutique hotels, Opatija has the Ambassador Hotel as the crux of the development of congress tourism. The Ambassador has a congress hall for 525 participants, which, by its multifunctionality, can receive up to 1000 participants and six smaller halls," says Županović who thinks a similar hotel in Kotor should have been on the site of the former Fjord.
Due to climatic factors, Kotor can be a respectable destination for sports tourism. "In addition to the development of accommodation capacities, the development of sports infrastructure for the organisation of international events is indispensable, because if we do not have events of this type, sports competitions are reduced to the level of nationality, which limits the tourism development of Kotor in this sense."
Tourism engineer Ivo Županović particularly emphasises the importance of completing works on the winter pool. "The pool is the backbone of the development of Kotor's sport for decades, but it is also a significant social content for the city. I think the reputation of our athletes is inadequate or not used when it comes to branding Kotor as a destination for European champions," Zupanovic said.
Read the article in Montenegrin at www.radiokotor.info
