On the occasion of the World Tourism Day, 28 September the Round table on „Perspectives and Challenges of the Tourism Sector development in Bosnia and Herzegovina“ was organised in the premises of the European Commission Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The organisation of this Round table is the result of a joint initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Working Group for Coordination of Activities in Tourism in BiH. The Round table was supported by the European Commission Delegation to BiH, which recognised this activity as necessary thematic approach to the tourism sector in tackling the most important challenges and potential future development of tourism in the country.

“This country has a lot to offer in terms of diversity: Summer beach holidays and winter sports, cultural heritage trails, wine routes, religious attractions, as well as great opportunities for hiking, hunting and fishing. Indeed, all people of Bosnia and Herzegovina should be proud of the richness and the diversity of their country” stated Johann Hesse, Head of Operations Section for Economic Development, Trade and Natural Resources of the European Commission Delegation to BiH at the opening of the Round table and emphasised that the motto of the World Tourism Day, is precisely, “Celebrating Diversity”. 

One of the goals of this Round table was to present the results achieved since similar conference held last year, said Mr. Hesse. He also stressed that when it comes to tourism, Bosnia and Herzegovina needs state-level strategy state level approach to tourism development, as there is currently a lot of defragmentation. 

Mr. Hesse has announced the two new projects which will be financed from the IPA 2009 programme. The first component of this project will develop in two directions. One of them is the support for non-governmental organisations and municipalities, which aims to improve competitiveness in the tourism sector, as well as improving the human resources skills. The amount of 2 million euro will be allocated for this component. The second direction of development is technical assistance for which the amount of 2 million euro will be allocated. This money will be used for tourism industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the state, Entities and Brčko District levels. The second component is related to the cooperation in the region. During the period 2007-2009, the funds allocated for BiH amount to over 14 million euro, and portion of these funds are allocated to the tourist industry.

Mr. Nevenko Herceg, Minister of Environment and Tourism of Federation of BiH, said “The European Commission’s pre-accession funds are of great importance for the tourism sector and environmental instruments”. He stressed that the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina succeed in making progress in the development of tourism, both in the adoption of new laws and new master plans, as well as in taking the anti-recession measures.  One of the problems in the tourism sector is the lack of the laws at the state level. Mr. Vilim Primorac, Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, said: “BiH has signed Stabilisation and Association Agreement and has committed itself on certain responsibilities when it comes to this area. At the state level, we are working on better coordination between state and entities organisations, and we will do everything to adopt the state laws”.

Mr. Hesse concluded the presentation by stating “It is difficult, if not impossible to implement programs to meet the regional policy objectives in terms of coherence, competitiveness and inter-territorial cooperation without a national approach to planning and programming such a regional policy.