The case study has been published in the book International Cases in Sustainable Travel & Tourism and can be purchased by Goodfellow Publishers. To receive an exclusive 10% discount on the book enter the code BESTENGP at checkout when buying directly from the Goodfellow Publishers website. Following the link you can access the free of charge Powerpoint presentation on Montenegro.

Synopsis and Learning Outcomes

Despite tremendous pressures for rapid development of coastal tourism, mainly fuelled by foreign investment, the Ministry of Tourism together with its National Tourism Organisation (NTO) have “shifted the focus from traditional package tour holidays in coastal regions to creating a higher-yield tourism product based on nature tourism [and regional traditional culture]. This includes the promotion of local, authentic restaurants and hotel facilities, as well as the establishment of well-connected bicycle trails” (Montenegro National Tourism Organisation, 2010).

This case focuses on a 10-year development project in the region of the Biogradska Gora National Park in the north-eastern part of the country. A slow step-by-step development based on trust building, cooperation between five communities and the National Park and integration of regional stakeholders has resulted in sustainable tourism products that are successful in the international, mainly German-speaking market.

Naturefriends International (NFI) played an important role in the starting phase of the project in 1999 together with the country office of the OECD. Later on, the tourism development project was financed by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and implemented by the ÖAR (Österreichische Arbeitsgemeinschaft für eigenständige Regionalentwicklung / Austrian Association for Endogenous Regional Development), while the author and NFI colleagues were continuously involved as experts, moderators or within monitoring processes.

The case of the development of the Bjelasica-Komovi region, with the central national park Biogradska Gora, shows that sustainable tourism development should have an eye on overall sustainable regional development, linking its specific products to regional resources and empowering regional stakeholders to gain benefit from the tourism development.

After completing this case study, learners should be able to demonstrate the following principles of sustainable tourism development:

1. the principle of participation of local and regional stakeholders to ensure the long-lasting success of the development;
2. the principle of local empowerment, especially in comparison with foreign investment; and
3. the principle of systemic project management and step-by-step implementation plans.