President of the Association of Tourist Businessmen in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Senad Halilovic said that they are grateful to the Council of Ministers of BiH for finally opening the borders for all foreign citizens with a negative test for coronavirus not older than 48 hours, but that all levels of government should know that the decision was delayed for four months.
He added that 2020 was completely lost for tourism, hospitality, transport and many other activities.
Halilovic pointed out that the associations of employers, tourism entrepreneurs, hoteliers, the Chamber of Commerce and the Federal Ministry of Tourism and Environment have coordinated activities over the past seven months and persistently and daily appealed to the Council of Ministers to open borders as of June 1st, which is why our most endangered economy has losses that amount to several billion BAM so far.
“Such huge revenue losses in 2020 will result in less money in budgets in the amount of more than half a billion BAM. By the end of 2020, these losses will be significantly higher, and only then will it be clear to everyone in the Council of Ministers what damage the late decisions have caused,” stated Halilovic.
However, he adds that the decision of the Council of Ministers will enable them to improve business activities in 2021, when they expect a significant increase in income and new employment.
“We expect the Council of Ministers to allow free entry into BiH as soon as possible for all foreign citizens without conditioning the test, which is a great expense for every tourist, and following the example of Turkey and other countries that have completely simplified their procedures,” said Halilovic, Biznis Info reported.
