Montenegro

Collaborating on the development of Adventure Tourism in Montenegro and Croatia (UNDP assists Montenegro and Croatia in developing cross-border outdoor tourism)

Tivat, 20 January 2011

The Centre for Sustainable Tourism of Montenegro (CSTI), in cooperation with the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service, the NGO Sunce of Croatia and supported by the UNDP Montenegro, started a joint project “Business Cooperation and Skills Improvement for the Development of Outdoor Tourism“, with an aim to contribute to economic development through sustainable cross-border cooperation between Croatia and Montenegro.

At the Porto Montenegro premises in Tivat, the first coordination meeting of partners in the project was held in order to establish a detailed plan for the implementation of project activities and to define administrative and communications procedures.

“The CSTI started the realization of the cross-border project for skills improvement and establishing of business cooperation for development of outdoor tourism, which is implemented in cooperation with the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service,“ said Ms. Svetlana Vujičić, Executive Director of the Centre for Sustainable Development Initiatives. “The CSTI is the main holder of the cross-border project on the Montenegrin side and accordingly, CSTI will manage all the activities on the Montenegrin territory over the period of 18 months of implementation, with an aim to successfully create an advanced cross-border tourism product, primarily through formation of active cross-border clusters of tourism entrepreneurs on both sides of the border,“ Ms. Vujičić added.

“UNDP will support the project through work on achieving two concrete results: 1) upgrading safety standards in tourism by strengthening the capacities of the Mountain Rescue Services of Montenegro and Croatia to use GIS technologies in rescue missions, and establishing the standard operating procedures for cooperation between the two Mountain Rescue Services in the cross-border area, as well as providing support in knowledge and experience exchange between the two organizations; 2) diversifying tourism offer through certifying expert guides for kayaking, caving, hiking and biking,“ said Ms. Milica Begović Radojević, Economy and Environment Cluster Leader at UNDP Montenegro.

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Cross-border cooperation project between Croatia and Montenegro is financed by the European Commission in the amount of €401,373, and it was developed in accordance with new tourism trends, with an aim to contribute to economic development through sustainable cross-border cooperation between these two countries. It is envisaged that the project will last 18 months, with activities in Croatia’s Dubrovnik-Neretva canton, and the Montenegrin cities of  Kotor, Herceg Novi, Budva, Bar, Ulcinj and Podgorica.  

This project will strive to establish cooperation between stakeholders with an aim to take joint actions and interventions in domains of tourism, protection of environmental and cultural heritage, community development, as well as for the purpose of capacity development of interest groups and partners. To that end, one of the activities in the project will be training for at least 20 rescuers of Mountain Rescue Services of Croatia and Montenegro and procurement of the necessary gear, which will contribute significantly to achieving a greater safety of tourists. In addition, at least 25 tourist guides will be trained and will receive certificates in the frameworks of the Programme for capacity development, which envisages skills improvement for the guide services for mountaineers, hikers, bikers, kayakers and speleologists, while special focus will be on the areas of environment and biodiversity protection. Within the scope of planned activities, at least 20 cross-border teams of tourism entrepreneurs will be established, and their work will, among other, encompass an analysis of groups of the actors on both sides of the border and establishing of cooperation between them, as well as organizing joint meetings with selected tourism enterprises, rescue services and outdoor tourism clubs.