Over 150,000 tourists cruised the largest lake in the Balkans

The season in NP Skadarsko jezero is not over yet. A large number of tourists visit, cruise and tour the sights of this protected area every day. Crowds in Virpazar and Vranjina show that visitors enjoy the warm autumn days and nature.

Photo Kingfisher Virpazar

For the Public Company for National Parks of Montenegro and NP Skadar Lake, the summer season was successful, and the data show that more tourists visited this park than last year, but also more than was recorded in the record-breaking 2019.

"The season on Lake Skadar starts early, already in March. We are satisfied with the results, and the data show that 2019, the year we most often take as a parameter, has been surpassed. According to our data, more than 150,000 tourists visited Skadar Lake NP, and that number is certainly higher because many visitors enjoyed hiking, visiting cultural and historical landmarks, villages, and wine roads," said the coordinator of Skadar Lake NP Tomislav Ukšanović. 

Photo: Kayak rental Dodoši 

Traditionally, the largest number of visitors comes from Western Europe. According to Ukšanović, the absence of tourists from Ukraine and Russia was felt this year due to the current situation in those countries, which also affected visits to Montenegro.

"Even though it's the end of October, we still have a significant number of tourists at Lake Skadar. "Individual visits depend on weather conditions, while organized tours are carried out without any problems," he said.

These results of the tourist season are followed by the good results of the Protection Service when it comes to trained control of this area. Since the beginning of the year, 41 people have been deprived of their freedom due to illegal activities in the protected area, there were 30 reports for illegal construction, while in cooperation with the UP Navigation Unit, there were dozens of reports for illegal boating. 

Data from the field shows that in the previous 36 years, such a number, I can say a record number, of confiscated funds used for illegal activities has not been recorded. Since Skadar Lake was declared a national park, such a good number of tourists have not been visited, but neither has the collection been recorded," added Vuk Saičić, head of the Skadar Lake NP Protection Service.

Photo: Putoholičari 

The businessmen of this region also believe that the season was good, says Krstinja Ivanović. She points out that the largest number of visitors are from France, Belgium, England, Israel...

"There are still a lot of tourists in Virpazar, and the good weather favors that." The visit was at the expected level and the number of tourists was higher. What is surprising this year is the larger number of organized groups and tours. "Local entrepreneurs are still organizing cruises, many of them are satisfied because they are already receiving reservations for next year, so the announcements for 2024 are excellent," she pointed out.

Ivanovic added that the entrepreneurs did not change the prices, but remained at the same level in order to make this offer available to all visitors. 

Source: Share Montenegro