Araps tourists in BiH on the rise, but state sees no benefit due to oversights

The number of tourists from Arab countries visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina is steadily increasing, but the state treasury sees almost no benefit from them, research by the Bosnian news agency Patria has shown.

Bosnia's rivers, lakes, waterfalls and mountains are increasingly interesting to tourists from Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. However, most of them come to our country through foreign travel agencies, and in Sarajevo they are most often greeted by illegal tourist guides and unregistered transporters, so Bosnia and Herzegovina only gets money from food or the occasional souvenir from such tourists, NAP writes.

From Arab tourists, the biggest earners are intermediaries who provide them with accommodation, transport to excursion sites and other programs in BiH, taking a percentage from hotels, transporters and restaurants where they take guests for lunch, Patria's interlocutors explained.

But that is not the end of the story. The bill for services charged by so-called tourist guides, for example, from a taxi driver is in convertible marks, and they show that amount to the Arabs in euros, making a double profit on top of the percentage they previously agreed upon with, for example, the owner of a catering establishment.

One of Patria's interlocutors said that he drove a group of Arab tourists from Sarajevo to Jajce and back for a price of 700 KM, while the guide who found him that job took 700 euros from the tourists.

Asja Hadžiefendić-Mešić, PR of the Tourist Board of Sarajevo Canton, told the Patria agency that she is aware of the malversations occurring in BiH regarding Arab guests, but that it is currently very difficult to correct them.

- Arab guests are most often brought by their fellow citizens who previously stayed in BiH for a period due to studies or other reasons – Hadžiefendić-Mešić told Patria.

- They are connected with our people from BiH and now that line is very developed and strong. There are many tourists from Arab countries coming to BiH through these lines, but we cannot have insight into their number. They visit Jajce, Mostar, Bjelašnica and other natural beauties of our country – added Hadžiefendić-Mešić.

Tourism in BiH is a very promising economic potential, which is increasingly growing.

- But, at the same time, it is one of the economic branches that perhaps has the most oversights and needs to be regulated urgently - said Hadžiefendić-Mešić, NAP writes.