Tourism Development in the Western Balkans: Towards a Common Policy Enrico Porfidoa
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24 Annual Review of Territorial Governance in the Western Balkans, II, 2020, 24-45 https://doi.org/10.32034/CP-TGWBAR-I02-03 Tourism Development in the Western Balkans: Towards a Common Policy Enrico Porfidoa Summary Tourism is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the global economy. Most countries are relying on it for their economic growth, including Western Balkan countries, which are investing in tourism and considering it as key-sector for their development. In the last decade, several initiatives have been undertaken by national governments, such as reviews of tourism strategic plans, tourism communication campaigns, and the creation of national tourism brands. This contribution aims to provide a complete framework of public tourism policies in the region through the comparison of the strategies undertaken by each country. Later, countries will be then grouped by policies’ characteristics and analysed according to additional indicators, such as amount of investments, policies’ evaluation and implementation, and tourism numbers trends. Preliminary findings indicate that Western Balkan countries are adopting similar tourism policies in terms of objectives, products, and investments. This fact may lead policymakers to consider the differences and unique features of their respective territories and generate competition among neighbouring countries, which are consequently obliged to contend for the same tourism market. In such a context, the conclusions and recommendations of this work point to the possibility of a common tourism policy in order to join efforts and to jointly address the region’s competitiveness on a global scale. Keywords: Balkans, Regional Policy, Tourism, Tourism Policies Contact a [email protected] pais(vi)agem collective, Barcelona-Paris Sealine Research Center, Ferrara University, Italy Institute Habitat Tourism Territory, UPC Barcelona – UMA Malaga, Spain Tourism Development in the Western Balkans: Towards a Common Policy 25 Introduction: Tourism in the Western The Balkan peninsula contains countries Balkans that are at different stages of tourism development. “Indeed, besides the long- Over the past decades, tourism has established tourist destinations along the experienced continued growth and Croatian coast, also other, more remote deepening diversification to become one and rural areas are becoming hotspots for of the fastest growing economic sectors tourism” (Lehmann and Gronau, 2019, p. in the world (UNWTO, 2019). In the last 46). This difference is mainly caused by their twenty years, it also grew rapidly in the diverse economic, political, and historical Balkan region, growing from less than 4 backgrounds. million foreigner visitors in 1999 to more than 27 in 2018 (see Table 2). Due to its There are several variables along which the position and complex history, the region Balkan peninsula countries can be grouped has been considered “between stagnation and analysed. Already from a geophysical and progress, between the past and the point of view, the region can be defined future, between preserving the existing in three ways according to various natural state and a revolution for far too long” borders: the Sava-Danube line, the Trieste- (Dragicevic-Sesic and Dragojevic, 2004, p. Odessa line, and the Carpathian and Balkans 19). In particular, the climate of insecurity line (Hajdù, et al., 2007). caused by conflicts (most recently resulting Figure 1. Balkan Peninsula: Geo-physical from the dissolution of Yugoslavia between Vision 1991 and 2001) delayed the mass tourism boom that other Mediterranean countries have enjoyed since the 1970s. Due to the region being ‘undiscovered’ and ‘unknown,’ today the entire Balkan region is going through a golden age of tourism growth. The increasing importance of tourism in the economic structure of Balkan countries is undeniable (Cvetkoska and Barišić, 2017). Lonely Planet – the colossus of travel guides – awarded Albania the best destination of 2011. In 2016, the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro was ranked as a must- Sava-Danude Line Trieste-Odessa Line visit city, while Transylvania in Romania Carpathians and Balkans Line was ranked as the best region in the world Source: Author, based on Hajdù, et al. (2007). to travel to (Butler, 2015). The region of the Julian Alps in Slovenia recently entered From a political economy point of view, the its rankings, winning third place in the discussion is even more complex. There category, ‘Best Destination of 2018’ (Lonely are at least four different groups to which Planet, 2018). Western Balkan countries belong according to organizational reports and other Göler and Doka (2018) have divided the documents mentioned in this study. region into three main typologies of tourism development: (i) the ‘traditional For the purpose of this study and the Mediterranean holidays resorts’ of Greece mission of the journal, the analysis has been and Turkey; (ii) the ‘restructured post- narrowed to the so-called Western Balkans socialist model of tourism and leisure and Croatia since most of the documents activities’ in Bulgaria and Romania; and (iii) analysed consider it part of WB though the ‘well-functioning remainders of the it is already a member of the EU. Bulgaria, liberal model of a socialist market economy’ Greece, Romania, Slovenia, and Turkey are in Croatia and Montenegro. not part of the study1. 26 Enrico Porfido Table 1. Tourism-Economies Groups according to the documents mentioned in this study Organization Name Countries Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, United Nations World Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, Tourism Organization Southern/Mediterranean Malta, Montenegro, North (UNWTO) Europe Macedonia, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey Albania, Bosnia and Organization for Economic Herzegovina, Kosovo, Co-operation and South-East Europe Montenegro, North Development (OECD) Macedonia, Serbia Albania, Bosnia and 2 European Union (EU) Western Balkans (WB) Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, World Travel and Tourism European Union Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Council (WTTC)3 (sub-region) Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden Albania, Armenia, Other Europe Azerbaijan, Belarus, (sub-region) Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Russian Federation, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine Source: Author, based on EU (2008), (2018) OECD (2018), UNWTO (2019), and WTTC (2019). Observing the tourism numbers of the EU in 2013, which opened its borders to Western Balkans countries – Albania, Bosnia Schengen countries (OECD, 2016), among and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, others. Kosovo, the Republic of North Macedonia, and Serbia – important gaps are already In order to compare the WB countries, the evident. Out of the seven Western Balkans table above includes a ‘Tourism Growth countries, Croatia stands out with 16.649 Index 2017/2027’ in the last row (Table 2). million tourists in 2018 (UNWTO, 2019), This index is calculated according to the data followed by Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, included by the World Travel and Tourism Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Council (WTTC) in its annual Country North Macedonia, and Kosovo, for which Reports. The average growth for this time updated data are not available. This is frame is 35%, with Croatia, Montenegro, predictable due to the long and historic and Serbia above the average, and Albania tourism tradition of Croatia (Beyer, et al., slightly under the average, followed by the 2013; Orsini and Ostojić, 2018; Lehmann Republic of North Macedonia and Bosnia and Gronau, 2019) and its admission to and Herzegovina. These tourism growth Tourism Development in the Western Balkans: Towards a Common Policy 27 Table 2. International Tourist Arrivals (in million per year)4 Year ALB BIH HRV KOS5 MKD MNE SRB 1990 0.03 N/A 7.049 N/A 0.562 N/A N/A 1999 0.039 0.089 3.443 N/A 0.181 N/A N/A 2010 2.191 0.365 9.111 0.0 34 0.262 1.088 0.683 2015 3.784 0.678 12.683 0.079 0.486 1.56 1.132 2017 4.261 0.733 14.353 0.086 0.529 1.879 1.272 2018 5.340 1.053 16.649 N/A 0.707 2.007 1.711 20276 6.25 1.018 26.033 N/A 0.754 2.978 2.095 Tourism Growth Index 31.84% 28% 44.87% N/A 29.84% 36.9% 39.28% 2017-20277 Source: Author, based on UNWTO (2000, 2016, 2017, 2019), WTTC (2017) and Kosovo Agency of Statistics (2020). rates confirm that the entire region has importance of the tourism sector is also become an important international tourism confirmed by its contribution to national destination over the last two decades. The GDPs (Table 3). Table 3. Tourism sector contribution to GDP by country in 20198 Country 2019 Contribution to GDP Growth 2018-2019 Albania 21.2% +8.5% Bosnia and Herzegovina 9.8% +6.9% Croatia 25% +4.1% Kosovo - - Montenegro 32.1% +6.1% North Macedonia 6.2% +3.8% Serbia 5.9% +5.0% Source: Author, based on the WTTC Country Reports: ‘2020 Annual Research: Key Highlights’ [available at https://wttc.org/Research/Economic-Impact]. Tourism assumes an essential role in Yet, tourism’s strict interdependence with boosting socio-economic growth, especially other sectors such as the environment, in developing countries. This industry in education, health, and transport, makes it this region is a significant factor in the even more challenging to reach the goals democratization process, acting as a driver countries’ have for the sector. For example, for EU integration of the region (Priniotaki- the tourism sector strongly relies on local Ioannis and Kapsis-Stavros, 2008). Indeed, human capital, which means that tourism “given the proximity to major European and hospitality employees should be markets and the secular growth of tourism, correctly trained for specific jobs (education it is plausible to assume that the tourism sector) and that mobility should be facilitated sector could be another key sector to drive both in terms of infrastructures and public the Western Balkans’ catching-up process” transport (transport sector).