SDA angry at HDZ for working against tourism in BiH

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - An unreasonable and completely inexplicable decision by HDZ ministers in the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina to vote against facilitating the visa regime for citizens of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is causing multi-million damage to BiH tourism, the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) announced today.

The SDA states that despite the fact that BiH tourism is on its knees during the pandemic, and despite the pleas of the Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina, tourism associations from all over the country, and requests from airlines, hoteliers, and investors... HDZ ministers voted against the decision, directly harming all citizens of BiH.

"While a wealthy Switzerland, through its tourism organization and embassy, is campaigning and inviting Arab tourists to visit this country, the HDZ, with its unreasonable decisions, is leaving BiH without millions of marks. Considering that citizens of China and South American countries, such as Brazil and Argentina, are exempt from the visa regime for entering our country, the opposition of HDZ ministers can be explained in two ways. Either they are consciously working against BiH tourism, endangering thousands of jobs. Or their decision is a product of Islamophobia," the SDA statement reads.

They state that the opposition of HDZ ministers is even more unreasonable when considering the fact that the Decision stipulates that citizens of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are exempt from the obligation to obtain visas in the period from May 15 to October 15 of the calendar year, with a maximum stay of up to 30 days, and that they must present proof of a paid tourist arrangement and a return plane ticket.

The SDA calls on the HDZ not to politicize a rational decision for which opinions have been obtained from all competent institutions, and to stop working against its own country, as it will bear exclusive responsibility for job losses in the tourism sector, as well as multi-million damage to the budgets in Bosnia and Herzegovina.