Neum hotels are almost fully booked for May 1st, and excellent bookings and announcements suggest a successful tourist season, Neum hotelier Davor Krešić said in an interview with Fena news agency, adding that the pre-season has already exceeded expectations.
“The pre-season in Neum started a month ago and the capacities are currently very well filled. For May Day, almost no hotel has any more free capacity, there may still be a few rooms left, but I believe that there are still plenty of free accommodation capacities in private accommodation, so, generally speaking, we can be very satisfied with the start of the season. Booking is excellent, the announcements for the season are excellent, our weather has improved and we are very optimistic,” said Neum hotelier Davor Krešić.
Introducing novelties
He said that hotels in Neum introduce some novelties every year because they have to keep up with the competition and neighboring destinations, which implies constant investment in the infrastructure and hotel facilities, as well as improving the quality of the workforce.
“Also, the Municipality invests in all this, although perhaps not as much as we would like, but positive changes are indeed taking place and there is a lot of investment in the infrastructure of the municipality itself,” said Krešić.
He emphasized that the prices, compared to the previous year, changed on average by maybe three percent upwards.
“It was a minimal increase, although we had a good reason for a much higher price increase, however, we stayed at last year’s prices so that the vacation will be acceptable, we can say, to a good number of guests, both from Bosnia and Herzegovina and from abroad,” said Krešić.
Raising prices
He emphasized that Neum is known as a “last minute” destination, so accommodation reservations for the peak season are still available.
“On the one hand, it is a small risk, on the other it is a very good thing financially, because when other destinations, Dubrovnik and Makarska are full, then it spills over to Neum and then we can raise the price a little more, so I believe that the peak season will be filled, but what is even more important to us is that the pre-season and post-season are very well filled, where we put the most effort to bring guests, so in general we can be satisfied with the development of the whole situation,” said Krešić.
Regarding the number of tourists who stay in Neum during the summer season, he said that he does not have official data, but estimates are that there will be some 15,000 guests in the peak of the season.
“We now have a new tourist association and a new director who, I hope, will very soon establish order in this matter and that the exact number of accommodation units and the exact number of facilities that are rented out will be known and that each overnight stay will be properly managed and the residence tax paid. Of course, the money that is paid should be invested specifically in the development of the destination itself and the promotion of the destination, because without that there is no point in paying the residence tax,” said Krešić.
Finding workers
He added that finding workers this year was somewhat easier than in previous years.
“As for finding workers, these are more standard problems, you don’t need to make a big fuss out of it. We all start to find our way already at the end of last year for the upcoming season and I can say that we have all equipped ourselves well in the hotels, even this year and somewhat easier than in previous years. I think we will push through the season in terms of manpower, but the fact is that every year is a new challenge and it is difficult when it comes to this. I think that we will have to resort to importing labor force in the foreseeable future, maybe even next year, but we haven’t yet this year,” said Krešić.
When it comes to the average price in Neum for a family of four, Krešić points out that in a hotel with half board it is around 250 euros per day.
“It is very difficult to talk about this because the question is what service is involved, what type of room, where the hotel is located, whether it is private accommodation and so on. We can say that in a hotel with half board service for a family of four the price is around 250 euros, or 500 BAM per day with breakfast and dinner included, while in private accommodation the rent of an apartment is from 250 to 300 BAM per day, that is a rough estimate,” Krešić emphasized, Fena writes.
