Luxury Holidays, Big Apartments, Travel & Destinations, Montenegro Coast, Apartments in Montenegro - Montenegro Apartments doo

Economy of Montenegro

Economy

The economy of Montenegro is mostly service-based and is in late transition to a market economy. Montenegro remained a target for foreign investment, the only country in the Balkans to increase its amount of direct foreign investment during the recession.

In 2007, the service sector made up for 72.4% of GDP, with industry and agriculture making up the rest at 17.6% and 10%, respectively. Aluminum and steel production and agricultural processing make up for most of the industrial output in Montenegro.

Tourism is an important contributor to Montenegrin economy. Approximately one million tourists visited Montenegro in 2007, resulting in €480 million of tourism revenue. Tourism is considered the backbone of future economic growth, and government expenditures on infrastructure improvements are largely target towards that goal.

Infrastructure

The Montenegrin road infrastructure is not on par with European standards. Despite an extensive road network, no roads are built to full motorway standards, though two current roadway projects projects, the Bar - Boljare motorway and the Montenegrin section of Adriatic Ionian motorway, should change this. Construction of these motorways is considered a national priority, as both are important for uniform regional economic development and the development of Montenegro as an elite tourist destination. Current European routes that pass through Montenegro are E65 and E80.

The backbone of the Montenegrin rail network is the Belgrade - Bar railway.

Montenegro has two international airports, Podgorica Airport and Tivat Airport. The two airports served 1.1 million passengers in 2008. Montenegro Airlines is the flag carrier of Montenegro.

The Port of Bar is Montenegro's main seaport. Initially built in 1906, the port was almost completely destroyed during World War II, with reconstruction beginning in 1950. Today, it is equipped to handle over 5 million tons of cargo annually.

Tourism

Montenegro is well suited for development of all kinds of tourism, as it has both a picturesque coast and a mountainous northern region. The country was a well-known tourist spot in the 1980s. After 2000s that the tourism industry began to recover, and the country has since experienced a high rate of growth in the number of tourist visits and overnight stays.

The Government of Montenegro has set the development of Montenegro as an elite tourist destination a top priority. It is a national strategy to make tourism a major, if not the single largest, contributor to the Montenegrin economy. A number of steps were taken to attract foreign investors into Montenegro's tourism industry. Some large projects are already under way, such as Porto Montenegro, while other locations, like Jaz Beach, Buljarica, Velika Plaža and Ada Bojana, have perhaps the greatest potential to attract future investments and become premium tourist spots on the Adriatic.