Mavrovo, 26 June- Last week, SNV tourism advisors discussed with representatives of Tourist Info Points (TIP) in Macedonia about the ways to be more self-sustainable and improve their quality of services. In an workshop held in Mavrovo, one of the most touristic places of Macedonia, 11 TIP representatives out of 13 agreed to establish a network and cooperate with SNV in order to strengthen further their capacities.

“This initiative is coming in the right moment”- says Mr. Risto Atanasovski, TIP representative in Gevgelija. “Till now, no one has showed any interest in gathering all the involved stakeholders of the tourism sector in one place, where all problems and current statuses could be discussed and in addition, offer solutions for improving them.”

Actually, the TIPs in Macedonia are facing some problems related with their financial status since most of them were developed as part of projects with a fixed timeline. On the other hand, lack of proper communication with private sector, educational institutions and local populations add to the difficulties of becoming self-sustainable. For example, local populations do not find important to contact the TIPs and inform them on the ongoing activities, because they are afraid of tourist tax that needs to be paid. In some of the regions, path and mountain tracks signalizations are needed for the hiking tourism to be developed.

SNV will help TIPs to connect with the business sector on a higher level which will eventually generate mutual benefit on a long run. “We will contribute also in developing TIPs capacities in terms of increasing the quantity and quality of the services offered by using successful examples and experience”,- says Nehat Ramadani, SNV senior tourism advisor in Skopje. “For example, SNV has already an existing product in categorization of guest houses that was implemented in Berovo earlier and now it is ongoing in Krusevo”,- Ramadani says.

Tourism is an important factor for the economy of Macedonia, and it is treated as a priority sector within current government’s policies. Around 700,000 tourists are supposed to visit the country per year.