Hadžiefendić-Mešić: Fewer tourists for New Year than in previous years

Occupancy of accommodation facilities in Sarajevo during this period is slightly over 50%, and in 2014 it was around 80%, said Asja Hadžiefendić-Mešić, spokesperson for the Sarajevo Canton Tourist Board, for the Patria news agency.

She said that according to the information they have from the field, some reservations have been cancelled and that owners of accommodation facilities are expressing concern because they expected a larger number of tourists. There are several reasons for this.

- One of the reasons is the general global security situation, as well as in Sarajevo. The number of trips has decreased, and some airline routes have been cancelled. Another reason is the smog that has "closed" Sarajevo since December 3rd and staying outdoors is not recommended - said Hadžiefendić-Mešić.

She said that such a city cannot attract tourists, and in addition, the Sarajevo airport's operations were limited due to fog, which is an additional reason for the smaller number of tourists, writes Patria.

- New Year's Eve in Sarajevo has always been desirable for tourists, but we can already see that December will be at the level of 2014 or even slightly lower in terms of visits. Tourism is very sensitive to even the slightest disruption in security. And we had things in Sarajevo that certainly influenced tourists not to travel at all. BiH shares the fate of the whole world, and we were victims of a terrorist attack, but not to such an extent that Sarajevo and BiH would be singled out as a particularly unsafe place, but we are in that situation like the rest of Europe - says Hadžiefendić-Mešić for NAP.

On the other hand, considering the entire year 2015, it can be assessed as successful, and the number of overnight stays increased by about 20% compared to 2014.