Could you give us a brief overview of the hotel Crna Gora and the chain of hotels under your umbrella and its major characteristics?
We are a middle size company, according to specialized studies. Under our umbrella we have four hotels in the capital, Podgorica: one A-category, and three B-category hotels. The whole company has the capacity of around 1000 beds and employs 450 workers.
We have been in business for the past ten years; we have achieved an acceptable profit, which provided us the chance to reinvest the funds so as to meet our objectives. This process was very difficult and subtle, especially under the sanctions and in an extremely difficult economic situation. We kept the quality of our offer according to the level of Podgorica as the capital of the Republic and state of Montenegro.
Unfortunately, during these difficult times we could not offer the tourist program that only Podgorica can offer. Ten or twelve years ago a huge break of the development was made, not only in tourism but also in trade and the industry of Montenegro. We were unable to carry out our special project involving the Skadar Lake, which is a god-given resource for sports tourism, and science (exploring of different species of flora and fauna). Montenegro is also rich in cultural and historical monuments. We have as well beautiful beaches and rivers, some of them are running through Podgorica, like Moraca, Cijevna and Zeta. In general, there were no means and possibilities to develop tourism, and to approach the customer, in Yugoslavia, Europe and in the world. We were concentrating our resources on surviving; we had no strength to do any kind of marketing of our destinations, which used to be of great interest in Germany and England. For comparison, the big tourist agencies, before the war, used to fill the capacities of the former Yugoslavian coast from Ulcinj to Portoroz for over 80%.
What is your strategy to attract business clientele and delegations at the Crna Gora hotel?
Businessmen create the majority of the clientele of hotel Crna Gora. There are many different people staying at our hotel: politicians, journalists and also sportsmen. Montenegro is a small country, but its sport is very developed. We have basketball and handball in international competitions, football is developed too and martial arts are among the first in Europe. In mutual exchange of competitions, a large number of that audience stays in Crna Gora hotel, and in hotel Podgorica, which is close to the big sports hall.
There is a major plan to renovate, and acquire new management, not only for this hotel but for other hotels too. Could you elaborate on that aspect?
We have to catch up with everything that was not done in the past ten years in Montenegro. That includes our company as well, even though it is one of the best companies here. We have to reach the European standards, which went too far ahead and we were left behind due to certain reasons. We are planning to expand hotel Crna Gora and to increase its capacity, and profitability in order to return the means invested into its modernisation, reconstruction, and expansion.
At the first glance it is obvious that interior of the hotel is out of style by now, but it is built by an excellent project regarding functionality and location. All the functions of the kitchen and the reception are close in the basement, and the rooms and apartments are on top floors. All it needs is a little 'makeup', and some special services like a swimming pool, saunas, fitness studio, beauty salons, etc in order to satisfy European standards.
Like I said before, the location is perfect, it has 12800 m2 of inside and outside space, and enough of space to reconstruct all into one beautiful and modern hotel, and still save the surrounding two parks in the centre of the city, as they are.
Podgorica is close to the sea but the roads are obviously an issue. Now with the bridge that will be created, in two years, are you preparing for the possibility that Podgorica will be much more important for business and for tourism?
Podgorica is ideally placed. It is located half way to the sea and the mountains. With these roads it takes one hour of travelling, with good roads and good infrastructure it will not take more than half an hour to get to both the mountains and the sea.
It is our perspective, to make Podgorica the missing connection between the sea tourism and the mountain tourism. This location should provide a fast development not only of our company but for everyone who is in the tourist business in Podgorica, and surely this location deserves much stronger hotel capacities, like Sheraton and HYATT for instance. Montenegro has a nature almost as in paradise, and it should be developed in a right way but also in a fast way. | How does competition affect you?
Competition of smaller hotels and smaller companies like the hotel that you mentioned is pushing us to develop faster and to improve our offers, to stabilise the prices, since we had a monopoly position so far, and to improve our services.
This competition is taking a bit of profit from what we were used to, due to the fact that smaller companies are more mobile, and there are plenty of nice locations on our rivers, and lakes. I think that there is an equal chance to develop and earn profit for all of us. Healthy competition is basically a good thing.
One of the long-term plans for Crna Gora hotel would be to be branded with international brands like Sheraton or Four Seasons…
We have intensive contacts with HYATT. 15 years ago, we were almost at the point of signing a contract with them, for rebuilding hotel Crna Gora, but Peter O Tury, Vice President of HYATT at that time, died on his way back from Frankfurt, Zagreb and Podgorica to New York. We initiated these contacts, because there was a need for that standard already then. That is the type of management that is necessary. Even before the sanctions, the bad characteristic of Montenegrin tourism was due to unsuitable management, bad or no marketing at all, and bad or no researches of international and domestic demand for our resources. What we are in need for is knowledge, only after that comes the issue of funding.
It will be interesting for our readers to get to know you, hear about your background, and how you became General Manager of Crna Gora hotel?
I graduated from the University very early, and even though it had no direct influence on my choice of profession, an interesting detail is that my family was closely connected to the tourism industry: my grandfather ran a hotel in Bosfor with a Greek and Turkish partner. On my father's side, my uncle ran a restaurant at the Moscow train station.
I started my career by working in the city of Ulcinj, at "Hotelsko, Ulcinj", together with three, today famous managers in Montenegrian tourism: former federal minister of tourism, and general manager of whole Montenegrotourist, Mr. Miodrag Mirovic, Mr. Safet Divanovic who was sales manager and presently is in Holland, and Mr. Jaredic who was then the financial manager. That is where I have learned the job. I went to England to learn the language and was appointed as a director after only two years. So far I was in Warsaw for a year and a half as manager of the Industrijaimport branch, one of the 20 largest foreign trade companies in Yugoslavia at that time. I have spent all of my working years in foreign trade and tourism.
So investors can be sure that you have service industry in your blood!
Yes, I have carried out many projects, like hotel Olimpic in Ulcinj, hotel Lido, hotel Crna Gora, hotel Ljubovic, etc. We also organized a system of agriculture and food production, creating a closed system- hotels, tourism, food production. Some of the companies that have been privatised lately, were within this company - sports centre, bus station, restaurants… After my stay in Poland after only two years the company was divided. So I came back as a manager of four hotels.
What final message would you address to our readers?
We need a lot of know-how, management of the companies that have proven themselves already, in organization of our beautiful locations. We are a beautiful and proud nation, which entered civilization very early. Our first capital, Cetinje, had the first embassies and first printing office. Our history is interesting and rich. The coast with Ulcinj with its center and locations such as Jaz and Buljarice, and with Podgorica, mountains, the river Tara make Montenegro a paradise waiting for investments - investors cannot loose by investing here
Note: World Investment News Ltd cannot be held responsible for the content of unedited transcriptions. |
