First group of Dutch tourists arrives in Ohrid for organized tour
Ohrid, 19 July 2021 (MIA) – The first tourists from the Netherlands landed at the St. Paul the Apostle Airport on Monday for an organized group trip in Ohrid. The group arrived via TUI Fly’s charter flight from Eindhoven.
After an extended pause caused by the coronavirus epidemic, regular seasonal flights from the Netherlands to Ohrid have been reactivated. TUI Fly will operate two flights per week to Ohrid, set to bring to the city over 3,200 tourists from Benelux by the end of summer 2021.
Economy Minister Kreshnik Bekteshi expressed hopes on Monday that following restrictions that resulted in a drop of guests, the arrival of the first group of tourists from the Netherlands will mark the start of a new influx of tourists.
“The Economy Ministry is making efforts to facilitate foreigners’ trips to North Macedonia. Aside from easing restrictions, North Macedonia also meets all international requirements for becoming a ‘safe zone’. Our projections for 2021 point to an increase in the number of foreign tourists and nights spent compared to 2020,” Bekteshi said.
He stressed that in order to improve the situation in the tourism sector, the government adopted during its Monday session the budget revision, which entails an increase in domestic tourism vouchers from 1,300 to 4,000.
Agency for Promotion and Support of Tourism director Ljupcho Janevski said that optimistic predictions regarding a rise in foreign visitors are slowly becoming reality.
“According to our forecasts, tourism should reach in 2021 the level it was at in 2017. This means we’ll continue to offer subsidies for foreign tourists and work on improving the subsidizing model,” Janevski stressed.
He added that the Polish government’s latest measures, which entail mandatory quarantine for nationals who were on vacation in North Macedonia, largely reduced the number of expected visitors and especially of organized group trips.
Janevski expressed hopes that Poland will ease travel restrictions for vaccinated nationals. As a way to facilitate tourists travel to North Macedonia, he added, the Agency and the Economy Ministry have provided 50,000 PCR tests for visitors who need a negative test to return home.
The measure for offering subsidies to travel agencies that organize group trips for foreign tourists in North Macedonia remains in force.
“The Economy Ministry is making efforts to facilitate foreigners’ trips to North Macedonia. Aside from easing restrictions, North Macedonia also meets all international requirements for becoming a ‘safe zone’. Our projections for 2021 point to an increase in the number of foreign tourists and nights spent compared to 2020,” Bekteshi said.
He stressed that in order to improve the situation in the tourism sector, the government adopted during its Monday session the budget revision, which entails an increase in domestic tourism vouchers from 1,300 to 4,000.
Agency for Promotion and Support of Tourism director Ljupcho Janevski said that optimistic predictions regarding a rise in foreign visitors are slowly becoming reality.
“According to our forecasts, tourism should reach in 2021 the level it was at in 2017. This means we’ll continue to offer subsidies for foreign tourists and work on improving the subsidizing model,” Janevski stressed.
He added that the Polish government’s latest measures, which entail mandatory quarantine for nationals who were on vacation in North Macedonia, largely reduced the number of expected visitors and especially of organized group trips.
Janevski expressed hopes that Poland will ease travel restrictions for vaccinated nationals. As a way to facilitate tourists travel to North Macedonia, he added, the Agency and the Economy Ministry have provided 50,000 PCR tests for visitors who need a negative test to return home.
The measure for offering subsidies to travel agencies that organize group trips for foreign tourists in North Macedonia remains in force.
