Bosnia's tourism sector ask authorities to help them survive

“Don't forget the tourism sector, it is a driving force for 67 other sectors in the country. Give us your support!,” they said.

Dozens of buses created a convoy driving through Sarajevo's main streets and symbolically placing suitcases at a square in front of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, often used as a meeting point for travel agencies' organised trips.

“This was the first gathering and probably not the last one,” said Muamer Lutvic, general manager of Centrotours agency.

The agencies across Bosnia had to terminate their services in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. But their problems had emerged even before, according to Lutvic.

“We started cancelling certain trips in January and have seen the culmination in mid-march when all travel agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina closed down,” he said, explaining that their work was directly affected by the closing of borders and airports as well as restricted movement.

“What makes a difference between us and our colleagues in the region and whole Europe is the fact that other countries recognised travel agencies and passed a series of measures to help them,” Lutvic stressed and urged Bosnian authorities to recognise the importance of both tourism and these agencies.

“Tourism has been growing here over the last years by ten, 12 percent, we have seen large world's companies flying to the Sarajevo airport, there was a significant number of tourists coming here, and the number of travellers from Bosnia and Herzegovina has been on the rise too,” he explained.

“Now we ask the authorities to do its job and that means protecting its own industry. The tourism industry will be the last to recover and that's why it is important for the authorities to react and help this industry survive. Because, if nothing is done, a number of travel agencies will go bankrupt, many employees will lose jobs,” said Lutvic.