Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.21861/hgg.2011.73.01.11
Coastal Tourism in Montenegro – Economic Dynamics, Spatial Developments and Future Perspectives
Matthias Bickert
; Department of Geography, University of Bamberg Geographical Research on Migration and Transition Am Kranen 12, 96045 Bamberg, Germany
Daniel Göler
; Department of Geography, University of Bamberg Geographical Research on Migration and Transition Am Kranen 12, 96045 Bamberg, Germany
Holger Lehmeier
; Department of Geography, University of Bamberg Geographical Research on Migration and Transition Am Kranen 12, 96045 Bamberg, Germany
Abstract
Montenegro seeks its future perspectives in tourism. And there are good reasons for that: The country was considered to be the fastest growing tourism market worldwide in 2007. Notwithstanding a slight decrease during the last years, tourism is still seen as a crucial factor for future economic development. This seems to be a viable option if we consider Montenegro’s natural potential, its beneficial position on the Adriatic coastline and the experience in tourism gained in the many years since the 1970s.
These dynamic developments were motivation enough to explore tourism in Montenegro in a research project with strong empirical evidence, organised as co-operation between Universities from Germany, Albania, Montenegro and Serbia. Our empirical approach
included semi-structured, flexible interviews with different types of stakeholders. Since tourism in Montenegro is still almost entirely limited to the coast, we chose three coastal hot-spots in tourism, namely Kotor, Budva and Ulcinj.
Our results show that the current development in tourism can surely be considered as progressive and dynamic. But it is also strongly affected by multiple polarisations and divergent trends. There is a need for infrastructural upgrades in the mass tourism sector,
which is for the most part a low budget market with very difficult future perspectives. At the same time, there is a small but growing number of very exclusive offers, often seen as the vanguard of Montenegro’s future as an upper class tourists’ destination. All in all,
the economic bias towards coastal tourism involves the risk of an increase in the already strong spatial disparities, leaving behind a mountainous hinterland with a shrinking economy and population.
Keywords
economic development; tourism; Montenegro
Hrčak ID:
71505
URI
Publication date:
1.8.2011.
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