26 | ASIA ONE | JULY-AUGUST 2018Cynosure
I
t is my great pleasure to have this
opportunity to present to AsiaOne
readers some information about
Montenegro. The Romantic poet
Lord Byron said: “At the moment of
the creation of our planet, the most
beautiful merging of land and sea
occurred at the Montenegrin seaside...
When the pearls of nature were sworn,
an abundance of them were strewn all
over this area.”RICH CULTURE & HISTORY
Territorially and in population
(620.000 inhabitans) a small country,
we are very proud about our rich
culture and history.
During its millennium-long
existence and its turbulent history,
it has always been an independent
state, with an exemption of few short
periods. In 1878, at Congress of Berlin,
independence of Montenegro was fully
recognized by great European powers
of that time. Declared Kingdom in
1910, Montenegro at the end of 1st
WW lost independence although it
was part of the winning alliance.In May 2006, on a democratic
referendum and in accordance with
European standards, people of
Montenegro restored independence
and Montenegro became 192nd
member of UN. First time in our long
history we embraced pencils instead
of arms to bring back dignity to our
beloved country.
We are leaders in Europian
integrations and since the last year full
member of NATO.TOURISM OPPORTUNITIES
Montenegro is a small country
with many opportunities. Tourism,
agriculture, energy are the strategic
sectors where we see our potential for
future development.
Last year we had a GDP growth of
4.4% and this year we are expecting a
similar growth.
The advantage of our country
is proximity between coastal with
northern-mountain part that allows
tourists to enjoy same-day swimming,
and walking through the mountains
and in some months even skiing.Distance of the two farthest points is
only 190 kilometers.
Tourism as a strategic branch
generates around 23% of Montenegro’s
GDP. The steady increase in tourist
revenues and trade which has been
recorded in recent years show that
the tourism sector of our country is
becoming more and more powerful,
and consequently, we expect this
positive trend to continue in this year
as well.
According to reports from the
World Travel and Tourism Council
WTTC, Montenegro has been one of
the fastest growing tourist destinations
for years. This is supported by
information that according to WTTC
reports, the overall contribution of
tourism to GDP in 2006 amounted to
slightly over 15%. In the year 2017 it
was 23.7% of GDP, and according to
WTTC forecasts it is expected to rise
as much to 27.9% by 2028.
Furthermore, the tourism
government has introduced a series
of support measures to encourage
investments in the country. Among