The future of BiH is in tourism and through proper investment, ideas and cooperation of all tourist organizations and the private sector, which could lead to satisfactory results. The interesting culture, history, folklore, music, traditional food and drinks in BiH was received with enthusiasm by visitors to this year’s Berlin tourism fair.
By: Dijana Šarenac
At this year’s “ITB” tourism fair that was held from 6-10 March in Berlin, there were 11 thousand exhibitors from 180 countries throughout the world, including BiH. FBiH Tourist Board, the RS Tourist Organization and the Tourist Board of Sarajevo Canton represented BiH. The polite and smiling representatives from BiH tried to demonstrate the tourist offers of our country in the best way that they could and were attentive to all interested visitors.
Representative of the Tourist Board of Canton Sarajevo Adnan Vlajičić, who attended the fair, shared with “Sarajevo Times” the impressions from this year’s tourism fair.
He assessed that BiH had a successful representation at this fair, and added that those who expressed the most interest were tour operators from Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium.
“We also renewed and confirmed good cooperation with countries in the region, and established contacts with agencies from Bulgaria, Algeria and Turkey”, said Vlajičić.
Tour operators were mostly interested for the popular “Balkan Tour” that is in existence for several years already and is successful in countries in the region.
“BiH was represented as a destination for an active vacation with significant cultural and historical attractions, pristine nature, hunting and spa areas, and cities such as Sarajevo and Mostar”, underlined Vlajičić in an interview with “Sarajevo Times”.
According to him, these two cities are the most attractive for visitors.
“The greatest interest was certainly for Sarajevo, as the main and most well-known city. Otherwise, year after year Sarajevo marks an increase in the number of foreign tourists. Apart from Sarajevo, there was huge interest in Mostar. This city attracts local and foreign tourists due to its natural and cultural sites’’, explained Vlajičić.
Speaking about the plans for improving offers at the fair, Vlajičić said that they exist for years, and that they are striving for tourist offers that are more attractive and appealing to all visitors.
“It is not easy to implement this. Specifically, the costs of promotion at the fair are carried out by the FBiH and Canton Sarajevo Tourism Organizations, so finances are a stumbling block for the realization for some future plans. Until now, no one in our stand had to pay for participation and our stand is open to the private sector. Everyone who wanted to participate in the promotion had the opportunity to do so without any compensation’’, said Vlajičić. He added that there are plans that in the future would entail a payment for participation, all in order to promote BiH at a higher level.
“From that we would, as a tourist organization, as well as the private sector have a huge benefit from that’’, said Vlajičić.
The Berlin tourism fair is the world leader in the tourism industry. Visitors to the fair had the opportunity to get a glimpse into every corner of the world, hear interesting stories, participate in music and dance performances and to try traditional food and drinks from the countries that were represented. There are around 170.000 visitors a year. Apart from tourist organizations, agencies and tour operators at the fair, other offers come from airlines, hotels and other providers in the tourism industry.
