With the month of May and the warmer days, the summer tourist season started in Canton Sarajevo. Since the beginning of the year, the capital of BiH recorded an increasing number of tourists and strives to become a top destination.
“Regardless of the problems that Sarajevo is facing with, there is more and more tourists. We strive that every tourist destination in the city becomes somehow attractive to tourists. The number of overnights stays in the first 3 months of this year increased, although there were no conditions for skiing,” said Asja Hadziefendic-Mesic, a spokesperson for the Tourist Board of CS.
In the first three months of 2016, 7.8 % more tourists visited Sarajevo and 11.1 % more overnight stays were recorded compared to the same period in 2015. The largest number of arrivals in this period were realized by tourists from Croatia, and the highest increase in number of arrivals, compared to the previous year, realized tourists from Turkey.
Tourists from the top ten countries listed for the period January-March 2016 realized 71,636 arrivals, or 73 % of total foreign tourist arrivals. The remaining 26 458 arrivals or 27 % were realized by tourists from other countries from Europe, Africa, Asia, North and South America, as well as the countries of Oceania.
Passenger traffic at the airports in first 3 months of 2016 was higher by 13.3 %, compared to the previous years when traffic of 181,067 passengers was recorded. Currently, you can fly from Sarajevo to Zagreb, Vienna, Belgrade, Munich, Istanbul, Ljubljana, Dubai, Sharjah, Cologne, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Copenhagen, Geneva and Oslo. In percentages, the highest growth was recorded by Tuzla International Airport, the number of passengers is increasing by establishing regular lines of “Wizzair” from Tuzla Airport on the 29th of May 2013, and last year’s establishment of a base and low-cost company.
Currently, from the Tuzla Airport were established regular flights to Gothenburg, Stockholm, Memmingen, Frankfurt Hahn, Dortmund, Eindhoven, Basel and Malmo.
International Airport Mostar has regular flights to Bari, Naples and Rome. With seasonal charter flights is connected with almost the whole Italy, and has flights to and from Lebanon. There is only direct flight to Belgrade from Banja Luka Airport.
This year is expected a record number of tourists from the entire Europe, and the current data show that 7.8 % more tourists than in the same period last year visited the whole territory of BiH in first 3 months of 2016, and 7.1 % more overnight stays were recorded in the first 3 months of 2015, tourists are enjoying the tourist offer in our country that includes souvenirs, gastronomic specialties, rich cultural and historical sites…
(Source: A. B./Klix.ba)
