Macedonian tourists in Shengjin, Albania, Suto More, Montenegro are safe and continue their vacations, briefing for Free Press from several agencies that have guests there. A few days ago in Shenjin, a bar and a three-story house burned down, luckily there were no casualties. Some of the tourists and residents, who were located near the fire, were evacuated, and it was also noticed that some of the vacationers were leaving the city en masse.

From our agencies, they say that there is no need to spread panic and that our fellow citizens should not hesitate to go on vacation at all for security reasons. And there are no cancellations for the arrangements for Montenegro, the tour operators add. On the other hand, the fire that engulfed Dojran emptied the city, although the situation has been brought under control.

Ljupco Janevski, former director of the Tourism Promotion and Support Agency for our newspaper, says that fires generally have a negative impact on tourism, so clear and reassuring messages from local and state authorities are needed to show that they in no way threaten the tourism offer, which remains solid, quality, diverse and sustainable.

- Such occurrences send a general and bad image of the country in terms of security. That is why it should be clearly and loudly repeated that our tourist centers are not threatened by the fiery element and that tourists should be calm. I expect soothing tones from the local and state authorities and a faster and timely reaction to prevent the potential outflow of tourists. What is positive in all this unrest is that we have no cancellations for already arranged tours - adds Janevski.

According to a recent survey by the European Travel Commission (ETC), only seven percent of respondents said that extreme weather was their biggest holiday concern. As many as 82 percent of respondents in the Eurobarometer survey stated that they would be willing to change their travel and tourism habits in order to support more sustainable tourism, for example by consuming local products (55 percent), choosing environmentally friendly means of transport (36 percent), spending more for environmental protection (35 percent) or for the good of the local community (33 percent). However, environmental factors were among the least important indicators according to which tourists chose their destination: cultural offer (44 percent), natural beauty and prices (43 percent each), followed by available activities (30 percent), easy access (24 percent ), as well as health and safety information (20 percent) and environmental practices (15 percent).

- The tourism industry has just started to recover from the business disaster caused by the pandemic, so such scenes are not in our favor. However, forest fires all over the world are a clear signal that tour operators will have to adapt their strategy to future heat waves - points out Janevski.

The former director of APPT assesses that there are big challenges before the new Ministry of Culture and Tourism. He expects tourism in 2028 to bring 1 billion US dollars and more than 4,5 million overnight stays in Macedonia.

- In order for this not to be just a wish, it is necessary to take into account the large number of digitization projects, tourist inspection, tourist police, strategic development projects for tourism, a new investment cycle, a new subsidy model, and all this should be built on examples already set. The platform for digitization in tourism and the model for subsidizing domestic tourists has been passed at government sessions in 2022 and 2023, but they have not yet been implemented, mostly due to the absence of a political vision for tourism. Therefore, the decline of domestic tourists is logical, because we are becoming an unattractive destination compared to the region. At the moment, our agencies have almost no motive to lease accommodation facilities at home or sell weekend arrangements - says Janevski in an interview for Inovativnost.mk.