Sustainable and
health tourism

Thanks to the variety of its natural beauty and cultural and historical sites concentrated in a relatively small area (13,812 km2), Montenegro undoubtedly has great potential for tourism development. The Mediterranean and continental/mountainous climate, 40 lakes (including the largest in the Balkans – Lake Skadar), five national parks, one rainforest (Biogradska gora), a river with the deepest canyon in Europe (the river Tara), and the only fjord in the Mediterranean (Kotor Bay) can all be found only 190 km as the crow flies between the country’s two most distant geographical points. There are also numerous religious and cultural-historical sites from the Byzantine and Ottoman Empire and the Middle Ages, with distinctive Mediterranean cities (Kotor – on the UNESCO’s list of protected cultural assets), which makes Montenegro an attractive tourist destination throughout the year.
In addition to its beauty, nature in Montenegro also has medicinal properties (medicinal mud, air spas), which is the basis for the development of health tourism within the overall tourist offer. The skilled workforce is available and the country enjoys good reputation for health services. These comparative advantages are accompanied by affordable prices for health services compared to the Western Europe and part of the region. Montenegro, with its developed offer in the segment of rehabilitation, prevention, dentistry and aesthetic surgery, has all the conditions to become an internationally recognized health tourism destination.
Tourism is a strategic industry in Montenegro (its contribution to GDP reached 30.9%), showing a tendency of continuous growth. The total share of tourism in employment was 31.9%, while its share in exports was 52.6%. The positive trends in tourism were also confirmed through forecasts/projections of the WTTC from previous years, when Montenegro was among top countries as regards the pace of development during the ten-year period.
The successful development of tourism has a multiplying effect on other sectors in the country (agriculture, construction, trade, transport, etc.).
Traditionally, the national academic and business community has sufficient capacities for scientific and research activities and innovations in the tourism sector in general, while in the health sector these capacities are focused on certain segments of medical specialization with exceptional results (rehabilitation medicine). Leading hospitals in the country (Clinical Centre of Montenegro and “Simo Milošević” Institute) are leaders in scientific, research and innovation activities in the healthcare sector. There are also several pharmaceutical companies in Montenegro that, despite their narrow range of products, are committed to the development of original lines of medicines.