On the occasion of celebrating the International Mountain Day, in Sarajevo the Via Dinarica Conference , a platform for sustainable tourism development and local economic growth in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was held.
Improvement of tourist offer across the country has been presented and attention has been paid to the importance of sustainable tourism development for a better life of all people in BiH, especially the residents of rural, remote areas.
Via Dinarica is an initiative of USAID and UNDP in BiH with a total value of US $ 1.6 million, and is implemented in cooperation with partner institutions: the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism of the Federation of BiH, and the Ministry of Trade and Tourism of Republika Srpska. The goal of the Via Dinarica project is to contribute to the reduction of economic, social and regional inequalities in BiH through the affirmation of Via Dinarica as the unique regional tourist destination of the Dinaric countries.
Mirko Sarovic, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, emphasized that the Via Dinarica project represents an incentive for everyone in BiH to invest more in tourism.
“I have to say that investing in tourism is not frequent, and we lag behind in the region. This is an opportunity to look at this important sector, which can be the motor for the development of the economy of BiH, in a different way. I think we need to build the perception of BiH as a country that is a desirable tourist destination and that tourism has to be found in all cantonal, entity and state level plans, it has to be part of all reform agendas of all barges – in order to make this key step, catch up with the neighbors and reach the first billion earned from tourism in BiH,“ Minister Sarovic emphasized.
The United Nations General Assembly (UN) declared December 11th as the International Day of the Mountains, with the aim of raising awareness of the importance of the mountains to preserve the quality of life of the population in the whole world.
(Source: ba.n1info.com)
