Return ticket: Montenegro hopes tourists will
return to its Budva Riviera
Photograph: Phil Cain
Europe's newest independent state has the world's fastest growing tourism market. But Montenegro's comeback will depend on an environmental clean-up - and just a few more hotels. Phil Cain reports.
"I would like to take this opportunity to invite friends from the EU to visit," said Montenegro's Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic on May 22, the day after a referendum narrowly sanctioned the country's independence from Serbia. "It is still as beautiful as it used to be."
The invitation reveals just how central tourism is to the government's plans to make independence viable in a country of only 620,000, earning an average of just 230 euros a month. It hopes tourism will increase its contribution from 15% of the economy to 22%, a share last seen in the late 80s before being lost thanks to the war with breakaway Yugoslav states.
The comeback is so far swift, with the country managing the world's fastest tourism revenue growth over past three years (according to the World Travel and Tourism Council). Nevertheless, it still has a long way to go, with the number of nights tourists stay still less than half the level of its late-80s peak of 10 million. Part of the problem is that there are only 41,000 hotel beds in the country, a figure the government wants to see rise to 100,000 by 2020.
Despite impromptu tourist developments that draw criticism from environmentalists, this tiny country still manages to makes a big impression. Crossing over from Croatia through the recently-opened Debeli Brijeg checkpoint, you soon reach the flooded river canyon of Kotor. It could be Norway, if it weren't 26°C in May. It is a mystery how so many trees and bushes manage to get a purchase on such steep, craggy inclines.
The port of Kotor itself is a Unesco world heritage site, offering architectural reminders of the 15th century Venetian period. On the outskirts, there are also reminders of the more recent Tito era, but their ugliness is dissolved by the immense backdrop.
Sadly it is not advisable to swim, on account of suspect water quality. While the cleanup is going on, it is best to head for Budva Riviera on the Adriatic coast proper. Petrovac is a highly rated resort and the island Sveti Stefan, favoured by those seeking exclusivity.
From Petrovac, a main road leads inland towards Podgorica, the capital city, which soon forks to the right to Virpazar, a small resort village on the banks of Skadar, a 400 square-kilometre lake shared with Albania. It has provided a useful waterway for all kinds of smugglers, as well as a last refuge for Europe's wild pelicans. It offers a couple of fresh fish restaurants serving bleak, carp and eel. Currently there is little decent accommodation here, so the best bet is probably to head back to the coast or on to the capital.
Two things to watch out for if you do end up in Podgorica: no one will stop their car for a pedestrian too cowardly to sacrifice their life; and, if you want a quiet stay, try to avoid gun toting independence celebrations, which happen once every 90-odd years. But if you do happen to arrive on one, as I did, you could nip off for a day trip to the historic capital of Cetinje, to check out the foreign embassies - evidence of an earlier occasion on which the nation went it alone.
