The events in the Middle East are far from our country, but we could also feel the consequences of the crisis very soon. Economic first of all. Summer has started at a different pace, and tourism statistics have changed. There is a noticeable lack of guests from the Middle East. A smaller number of packages means significantly less inflow into this sector.
This summer, at least now at the beginning of the summer tourist season, Sarajevo is somewhat quieter than in previous years. Due to the escalation of conflicts in the countries of the Middle East, fewer and fewer tourists from this region are coming to our country.
The city is flooded with tourists, but there are no tourists from the Middle East. If it is a lull, the tourism workers will feel it the most. The difference is already noticeable, and the financial consequences are imminent.
“What’s happening – tickets, after the airspace of Iran, Israel and all those regions was closed – that’s the main route for all those planes from below, they have to go around Saudi Arabia and the Red Sea, over Egypt, that’s actually twice the longer route and automatically the price of airline tickets has increased drastically,” says Amar Mašić, owner of the travel agency.
“As for Iran, we didn’t have many tourists in BiH even before this war, and as for Israel, we have a large number of tourists in BiH who are very grateful. There were a lot of them during the summer, from April to around October. There are no more of those tourists at the moment. So all those groups have been cancelled. As for other countries – we are slowly starting to have some guests coming, many of them are extending their arrival for the next seven to ten days to see how the situation will develop,” said Senad Halilović, president of the Association of Tourism Entrepreneurs of BiH.
Airspace has become an extension of political instability – instead of connecting, it is now slowing down and making travel more expensive. Some guests have already given up, others are still calculating, and the tourism sector is in uncertainty.
“We have not yet recorded this moment, but globally we know that flights from Iran and Israel have been canceled, so we automatically have nothing to expect there, it is a war zone, but we are more worried about other countries in the region from which we have many, many more arrivals. That is our priority,” said Haris Fazlagić, director of the Tourist Board of Sarajevo Canton.
And while the tourism sector is recording the consequences on the ground, Sarajevo Airport says – air traffic is operating without interruption.
There has been no decrease in the number of flights and passengers from Middle Eastern destinations. We have no announcements of canceled flights, so air operations are proceeding according to the planned flight schedule.
Tourism, as one of the most sensitive sectors, is the first to react to external crises. Although the tourist season has just begun, it is clear that geopolitical problems are no longer something we watch from afar – but are directly felt at the local level. There will be damage, that is already clear. How much depends on how long the crisis will last and how we will manage to overcome it domestically, Federalna writes.
