Taxi drivers charging their services at prices much higher than the real ones are the biggest problem faced by the Montenegrin coastal tourism, says the president of the Montenegrin Tourism Association, Zarko Radulovic.
As he told Dnevne Novine, taxi drivers are spoiling Montenegro’s image and jeopardizing tourism industry.
“Because of their robbery, all of us become thieves. It’s not about the money, but one feels hurt. I wonder why it is not ended. We have just recently started talking about buildings, room dealers, ‘a piece of pizza’ and similar issues. Had we started it earlier, this would not happen,” said Radulovic.
Radulovic says it’s not good to carry out construction works during the season, but if these works could be completed in a day or two, it can do tourist season no harm.
“Taxi drivers who will rob ten tourists charging them €7 per kilometre will endanger the tourism season more than construction sites,” said Radulovic.
Speaking about the projections for this year’s season, Radulovic was optimistic.
“It’s already 25% better than the previous one comparing 1 January-1 June periods. I expect that this year we will be 10-15% better compared to the previous one,” Radulovic said.
He added that prices were generally at the same level as last year.
According to Radulovic, this year the number of tourists from all areas increased.
“Last year, Russians accounted for 27% of the total number of tourists who visited Montenegro. This year, growth in number of tourists from all areas, including Russia, is evident. There are also new markets tourists are coming from – Hungary, Poland, Scandinavia and the Baltic countries. Chinese will start increasingly coming as of autumn. This is a process – the things cannot be changed overnight,” said Radulovic.
