Covid-free Montenegro to reopen to tourists from countries with low infection rates
Montenegro is stepping up plans to woo back tourists this summer under the banner of Europe’s first coronavirus-free country, after announcing it no longer had any active cases of the virus.
The Balkan country said this week that its borders would open on June 1 to visitors from countries with fewer than 25 active Covid-19 cases per 100,000 residents; in UK such a threshold would be 5,000 active cases.
"Let me take off my mask," Prime Minister Dusko Markovic said triumphantly on Monday after health authorities announced that all infections had passed. The last new cases was recorded on May 5.
Tourism operators from the small nation on the Adriatic coast have already launched promotional campaigns luring holidaymakers to “Europe’s first Covid-19 free country”. Montenegro’s draws include the fortified medieval town of Kotor, popular with cruise passengers, where there have been no known coronavirus cases.
“Safety is something people are looking at the most," Ana Nives Radovic, director of the local tourism organisation in Kotor, told AFP. "They now are looking for a destination where people feel safe, respect some rules and where they can be assured that (the host) will not allow anything bad to happen to them.”
While Montenegro does not expect a bumper season, it is hoping its virus record will help salvage something for a tourism industry that accounts for more than a fifth of GDP. Current estimates project a drop of 70 per cent in revenue.
With its infection per capita restrictions it hopes to protect a population of 630,000 that has seen only around 300 cases of coronavirus and nine deaths, while also opening its doors to tourists. Prime Minister Markovic said target countries include Croatia, Germany, and Greece; the absence of high value markets such as the UK, Italy and Russia is a blow for luxury destinations like Porto Montenegro.
"It will look very different this summer than it would have looked last year," said Kai Dieckmann, general manager of Regent Porto Montenegro hotel, whose pristine pools, lawns and beach front have stood eerily empty for weeks.
He noted new hygiene measures would also be in place, such as "QR menus" at restaurants that allow patrons to read the menu on smartphones instead of touching a physical copy.
We will "have to provide additional services to meet the 'new normal', whatever that is going to be," he said.
