Great interest among tourists: More than 20,000 tourists visited the Neretva River in Konjic

Only on the Neretva River, in the section passing through Konjic, more than 20,000 tourists have taken boat rides this and last year, confirmed for the Bosnian news agency Patria (NAP) Jerko Mucić, owner of one of the 30 nautical sports tourism agencies operating in this town.

Unfortunately, Mucić explains, only 13 of them have a work permit, while the others „ferry“ tourists illegally. Because of this, it is not possible to have complete and precise data on the number of tourists who have paraded down the Herzegovinian beauty.

The rivers of Bosnia and Herzegovina are becoming increasingly interesting to foreign tourists. Thousands of guests from all over Europe, America, and Arab countries visit BiH every year just to enjoy the untouched mountain canyons.

And that number, experts warn, could be much higher if the state created a strategy for the development of river tourism, which is becoming increasingly popular worldwide.

- BiH's rivers are not promoted by anyone. We have no agencies that would attend world tourism fairs and thus advertise our rivers. Everything that is known about us is through our personal contacts, internet portals, or via recommendations from tourists who have already been to BiH  – warns Mucić.

He points out that the number of tourists visiting BiH's rivers, regardless of the poor organization in the country, is growing dizzyingly every year. Thousands of people support their families through rafting and other water sports, but this type of economic potential in BiH, he says, is still nowhere near being utilized as it could be.

- It is very important that state institutions get involved in this whole story about BiH's rivers and tourists. Because, if we just continue as we have been doing, I am afraid that in a short time „things will go downhill“ – says Mucić.

- We cannot just take from the rivers, as we are currently doing; we must also invest in the rivers so that generations after us can earn from them. It is the same with tourists; we cannot just bring them and offer them boat rides; they must have a complete experience; we must plan their time from the first to the last hour of their stay in our country – warns Mucić, writes NAP.

The beauty of the domestic rivers seems to have been recently discovered by domestic guests as well. There are more and more tourists from BiH who spend weekends on the Neretva, Drina, Pliva... If you live in Sarajevo and are in need of a break, you need no more than two hours by car to reach the Neretva and the part that flows through the beautiful Glavatičevo, and just a bit more money than you would have spent staying at home anyway, writes NAP.