In the aim of increasing a number of tourists in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in the aim of expanding a destination network, it is necessary to establish a joint systematic approach and synergy of all interested parties in tourism industry of our country. Only in that way, it is possible to act towards the competent authorities in order to resolve the issues in relation to liberalisation of visa regime and to develop a programme for airlines subsidies.
These are the conclusions reached at the meeting held on Tuesday at Sarajevo at the initiative of Sarajevo International Airport and in coordination with the Association of Tourist Entrepreneurs in B&H. The working meeting gathered the representatives of PC Sarajevo International Airport LLC, the Association of Tourist Entrepreneurs in B&H, the travel agencies, the hoteliers, the transportation sector and the USAID’s project for tourism development. This was an opportunity to exchange information and to establish a system for co-actions, what is a prerequisite for improvement of the services and tourism development in our country.
The Airport representatives had a presentation on results accomplished in 2022 and on impressive data on passenger figures in a period of first ten months of 2022. These figures are higher in relation to a total number of passengers that Sarajevo International Airport recorded in 2019, that being significantly above the European and global average. At the same time, the projections are that the airports across the world would not reach the volume traffic of 2019 until 2024.
The Airport representatives brought to attention the issues they faced with in relation to the network destination expansion, such as complicated procedures related to the process of visa issuance and impossibility of ensuring the subsidies to the airlines – which is well recognized good practice in the regions and beyond. Also, the importance of cooperation with the USAID and the Tourism Association of Sarajevo Canton was emphasized, which contributed to development and appropriate promotion of the new routes and Sarajevo as one of the preferred European destination.
All participants emphasized that it was necessary for tourism development in B&H to act jointly and to direct all efforts towards eliminating the above mentioned problems. It was concluded that the assistance of the competent authorities was necessary which would be reflected through liberalisation of visa regime for tourists, particularly for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Lebanon, and in relation to the market potential of the destinations in question. They pointed out, that despite a mainstream opinion; the guests who travel with the low-cost airlines are actually tourists who visit our country. Also, in the aim of positioning Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sarajevo as the preferred European and creative destination, it was necessary to implement basic prerequisites for launching wide network destination. And one of the most significant prerequisites is to create a Programme to Subsidy Airlines that would ensure a more significant growth of the air traffic and the number of tourists, and the same should have multiple economic benefits for overall economy of our country. Subsidising the airlines has proved as an excellent practice which has been carried out by many countries in the region and beyond. Comparative experiences undoubtedly indicate, that adopting and implementing of this type of approach would result in multiple total economic and easily measurable results in ratio of 1:4, and even to 1:6.