In Medjugorje, where the International Youth Festival ”Mladifest” is held from August 1st to August 6th, about 20 thousand people stay every day, but this does not reflect on the repair of the tourist season, which, judging by the situation on the field, was lost this year as well.
The president of the Association of Tourism and Hotel Management in Medjugorje, Davor Ljubic, explained that half of the capacity in Medjugorje is empty, even though a festival is being held that brings together young people from about 80 countries from the world, Klix.ba writes.
“When it comes to the most of the countries that presented themselves at this year’s Mladifest in Medjugorje, there are only a few representatives,” Ljubic told.
He mentioned that in front of the church in Medjugorje, there are thousands of people every day, many of whom are guests who do not sleep there.
“Before the outbreak of the pandemic, during Mladifest, over 50.000 overnight stays were realized, which filled the capacities not only of Medjugorje, but also of Mostar, Siroki Brijeg, Ljubuski, and other surrounding places,” Ljubic recalls.
Now, according to him, of the guests staying in Medjugorje, the most represented are Poles and Ukrainians, but there are no Lebanese, Irish, Croats, and Italians, who have always been the main guests of this tourist place.
“The situation is very bad and I once again recall the famous story of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was not able to put Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) where it belongs, to be on the green map in Europe. We are on the red map for Italians as well as for most European countries, which means that people who come from our country have to go to quarantine, and that is a big blow to our tourism, ” the interlocutor emphasized.
He pointed out that in the whole story of the pandemic, tourism in Medjugorje suffers the most and it is the biggest loser in the region and beyond. What is even worse, there is no way out of this difficult situation.
E.Dz.
