Member Article

Macedonia, a country of great natural beauty – and perhaps most famous for its lakes – is reported to be working hard towards further enhancing and widening its tourist offer. The latest activity on behalf of the government in this regard has been a EUR 15 million investment in the road and utility infrastructure related to Lake Prespa.

The investment has been spread across a number of projects, including the building of beaches in Stenje and Slivnia, as well as the accompanying footpaths along the lake fronts. Further improvements are to be made on the reconstruction of the water supply, on the local roads, and the Bitola-Resen regional road – which is currently ongoing with plans of being completed in September. The Resen municipality – the jurisdiction governing the area of Lake Prespa – is said to be the focus point of other future investments too.

The positive effects of overall investments and projects that have already been completed thus far in the field of tourism in Macedonia can be noted if we are to look at recent statistics. According to information from the Macedonian State Statistical Office, the number of tourists – both foreign and domestic – in February 2016 increased by 9.2% and 17.6 (respectively) when compared to last year's numbers. This set of data also goes deeper into accounting for the number of nights spent by tourists – with figures rising in this regard as well – by 19.8% and 13.9%.

If we were to take a step back and employ a more regional perspective on these developments, a wider trend of growth in the tourism sector can be noted, withsimilar newsrecently being reported from Slovenia as well. Considering the region-wide efforts for further improvements in this sector being regularly announced by national and local governments, it is becoming increasingly fair to assume this as a continuing trend.