39th Sarajevo Tourism Festival

From 19th to 21st October, Public Enterprise Center “Skenderija” hosted a long-standing fair "Sarajevo
Tourism Festival". This was the combination of the 39th International tourism and touristic stock
market and the 6th International hotel and catering equipment and catering fair in one extraordinary
event.

A total of 75 exhibitors from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Turkey, Indonesia and India
presented visitors their work, numerous natural beauties, tourist offers and tourist accommodation
capacities.

The organization of the fair was supported by the Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism, the
Sarajevo Canton Tourist Board and the City Administration of Sarajevo, and the partner country was
India.

Inspirational exhibitors and presentations

During my staying at the fair for three days as an exhibitor of my blog and at the same time while
working on an article for this event, I had the opportunity to meet a lot of inspirational people and
enjoy the very rich content of the fair - from presentations, performances, films, professional
conferences to rock concert.

I have spoken to a large number of exhibitors about the creation and development of their travel
agencies, companies, hotels, etc. We talked about how much effort, patience and love they invested,
and they are still investing in order to achieve success and to be recognized by domestic and foreign
tourists.

I discovered a beautiful small hotel and restaurant "Paradise" located in a natural setting, 8
kilometres from Bugojno, in Potocani. Next to the hotel is the California trout fish farm, which gives
all visitors chance to taste fresh trout and enjoy the view of dense forest and plantation of
raspberries of over 56 dunums (5.6 hectares), one of the three largest plantations in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Of course, there is also juice and raspberry cakes, as well as opportunity to pick the
fresh raspberries by themselves.

The proof that young people can start their business in Bosnia and Herzegovina and be successful in
it is the rafting club "Tudupraft" from Konjic. Speaking with Eldin Gakic, the owner of this agency, I
learned that in nine years of the existence of agency this hardworking guy managed to develop his
business so much that he recently bought a couple of dunums of land and started building a modern
rafting camp. Of course, he managed to do all this through all day work and increasing his knowledge
through numerous seminars and trainings. Although the main activity offered by this agency is rafting
on the river Neretva, in addition you have the opportunity to try many other activities such as
canoeing, canyoning, trekking, hydro speed, motocross, team building, mountain bike and Tito’s
bunker tour.

One very unusual team I had the opportunity to meet is Jungle Tribe, a tourist agency that deals with
organization of trips to many distant, exotic destinations and currently is the leader in this for the
region. Apart from Sarajevo, they are located in Belgrade, Zagreb and Skopje, and thus cover a large
part of the Balkans. The prices of the arrangement are extremely affordable and there is a possibility
of payment on installments. It is interesting that the "Jungle tribe" also organizes honeymoon trips
for newlyweds tailored according to their wishes and based on their budget. What really thrilled me
is that this agency is made up of young people, who will surely delight you with their enthusiasm,
knowledge and effort and complete your journey.

These are just some of the many, very interesting exhibitors at this year's fair, about whose offers all
visitors could get information.

Also, everyone could attend various presentations in which exhibitors represented themselves and
their projects. One very interesting project presented by the NGO Terra Dinarica is Via Dinarica, a
mega hiking trail that follows the Dinarid mountain range from Slovenia to Albania, and connects all
natural and cultural sights. It is very important to note that the prestigious National Geographic
Traveler ranked Via Dinarica among the top seven destinations in the world in the Nature category
for 2017. Something, on what Bosnia and Herzegovina and all the countries of the region through
which this mega hiking trail passes can be very proud off.

The performance of the traditional Indian dance (kathak) and beautiful relaxing music brought to
visitors a "feel" of India. Also, one evening was reserved for the screening of a very educative,
interesting and humoristic Indian movie "3 Idiots" in the Youth House.

All the visitors of the fair had the opportunity to enjoy the performance of the folklore ensemble of
the Laborer's Cultural-Artistic Society "Proleter".

In the small wooden houses on the plateau of Public Enterprise Center “Skenderija” was organised
tasting and sale of domestic products from Bosnia and Herzegovina. It's always best to buy directly
from local manufacturers and support their work and effort. Eat healthy and support local
manufacturers!

Digital technologies and tourism

Something new and very useful at this year's fair was the expert conference "Digital Technology and
Tourism", which attracted a large number of visitors.

Lecturers and panel speakers were professors and representatives of the tourism and public sector.

We talked about the importance of digital marketing for tourism - defining goals and indicators when
moving to e-marketing, why we go online, how much and why online reviews are important, the
importance of applications, etc.

Prof. Dr. Almir Pestek, who led the presentation "The Importance and Role of Digital Marketing in
Tourism", pointed out that it is very important for all representatives of the tourism sector to know
why they are going online, what are their goals, know what tourists want, and always "promise less
and deliver more ". These are just some "recipes" that are very important for the promotion of online
tourist offers, which we had the opportunity to hear during the conference.

Panel speakers discussed how well the tourism companies and organizations in Bosnia and
Herzegovina are prepared for the digital age, the coherence of the education system and the needs
of modern tourism, whether we know the needs of tourists, and the impact of sharing economy on
tourism.
I had the opportunity to talk with one of the panel speakers, Mr. Mili Bijavica, the director of the
tourist agency Fortuna Tours from Mostar. Tourism is increasingly developing in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, but with the arrival of large number of tourists, it is necessary that "the competent
state institutions solve the problem of parking spaces for buses that are coming with large groups of
tourists, especially when talking about Sarajevo, and to stop the constant increase in ticket prices for
mosques, museums, galleries and other cultural institutions ", Bijavica pointed out.

After the conference for all participants, was organized a tour to the “Sunnyland” entertainment park
on Trebević, just 10 minutes’ drive from the city center. We enjoyed the sunset over Sarajevo and
autumn hues while having delicious snack and drinks. For the end of this great together time we
went on group drive on the alpine roller coaster and, of course, had a group photo. Transportation in
comfortable, air-conditioned bus was provided by the travel agency “Centrotours” from Sarajevo.

This year's "Sarajevo Tourism Festival" fair ended with a concert of the bands Konvoj and Prorock's
on Saturday night. The entrance to this event was free.

The importance of such events and the future of tourism

During the three days of the fair, exhibitors managed to learn more about digital marketing and
make new acquaintances, thus improving their business and opening doors for new collaboration
and business.

I hope from now there will be more similar events in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which aim to promote,
support, further educate and interconnect all tourist companies, agencies, tour operators and
bloggers who are promoting the natural and cultural-historical heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina
and the region.

Today, when more and more tourists are coming to Bosnia and Herzegovina it is very important that
the state and we as individuals be very careful and support only the sustainable development of
tourism. Why? Because we are often misled by an increased number of tourists, and we can forget or
neglect precisely the reason why they all come - natural and cultural wealth. We need to support and
promote all stakeholders in tourism that are ecologically and socially aware. All those who optimally
use natural resources, without destroying ecological processes, natural heritage and biodiversity;
take care of preserving cultural heritage and traditional values; support the employment of the local
population and the sale of local products. Let's keep what we have so that our future generations
and tourists can enjoy all the natural and cultural treasures we enjoy.