By Ramesh Mathew/Staff Reporter
The Balkan Republic of Macedonia is awaiting a huge flow of travellers and tourists in coming months from the GCC states, in particular from Qatar, where its only embassy of the region is located.
The judicial complex under construction at the Skopje’s City Square. PICTURE: Ramesh Mathew
At a recent familiarisation trip to the country organised by the Macedonia’s Department of Tourism in tandem with the Turkish Airlines, journalists and representatives of Qatar’s travel and tourism industry were introduced to some of Macedonia’s major
attractions.
The tour took place close on the heels of a visit of Macedonia by a Qatari official delegation comprising senior officials of government and public-owned companies.
That 700,000 tourists flocked last year to the scenic and picturesque Balkan nation, spread over 26,000sq km reveals how supportive is the local government in its backing to the hospitality sector. Though the country has only a small number of major hotel chains, there are a large number of budget hotels, resorts and tourist accommodations.
Considered generally as a relatively cheaper European tourist destination, the fascinating tiny country is receiving mainly tourists from within the Europe, the USA and Far East
these days.
“We are focusing more on wooing tourists from the Middle East, in particular from the GCC states, for whom we have so many attractions on offer,” said Zhivka Cvetkoska-Andonoska, adviser to the Macedonian Agency for Promotion and Support of Tourism, at a meeting hosted by the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce in honour of the delegation from Qatar.
The official said the interest evinced by Qatar in exploring the possibility for making long-term investments in the industrial and hospitality sectors of Macedonia would go a long way in promoting travel to the country by visitors from this region.
With maximum temperatures in the summer hovering in the region of 30-32 degree Celsius, the country offers a lot of comfort for the region’s travellers, who usually flow out to neighbouring Arab and GCC destinations besides to their familiar tour haven of the UK.
Macedonia is blessed with enormous greenish natural beauty, scenic mountains and more than 50 fascinating lakes.
“We know it too well that the travel plans of many Qatari and other GCC travellers are hit heavily this time owing to the developments in some parts of the Arab region. Hence we are hopeful of attracting a number of such tourists to our country (Macedonia) which provides a lot of attractions to the visitors,” said Snezana T Jovanvska, president of the Macedonia Chamber of Commerce, at a meeting held in honour of the visiting delegation from Qatar, where representatives of more than 40 tour companies, hotels and resorts
participated.
Even though only a few major international airlines are operating flights to Macedonia, the connectivity provided by Turkish Airlines ensures a lot of regular flow of tourists from across the world to the country.
The country’s only international airport – Alexander the Great- is at its capital Skopje. However, chartered flights are coming almost daily with loads of tourists to the St Paul The Apostle Airport at Ohrid, on the eastern side of the country bordering Albania.
Omar Aslan, sales and marketing manager at Turkish Airlines in Qatar, said the airline is designing special packages to Macedonia, suiting the purse of travellers from this region, both the locals and
expatriates.
Even though a historically significant destination for Christian communities, Macedonia also has a significant number of Muslims (nearly 30%) as its residents. Some of the well-known mosques built during the Ottoman rule have been reconstructed and one of the aesthetically-designed mosques in Skopje attracts a lot of visitors throughout the year.
The City Square in Skopje, where a number of statues of the country’s leaders of the 18th and 19th centuries are located, receives scores of tourists. Another major attraction in the vicinity of the City Square is the massive Alexander Gate.
No visit to the capital city is complete without a journey of the National Museum of Macedonia which records not only the historical developments leading to the birth of now defunct Yugoslavia of which Macedonia was an integral part but also the declaration of the Macedonian independence in 1991 from the Serbs.
The museum dedicated to the Indian Nobel Laureate Mother Teresa, who was born in Skopje is thronged by many tourists. So also are the numerous churches, mosques and an array of Orthodox monasteries.
Equally fascinating are the lakesides, panoramic views from the hills and the historical churches in Ohrid.
Jeton Velu, the third secretary at Doha’s Macedonian embassy is optimistic of his country receiving large number of visitors from Qatar in coming days. “We are now working to making an increasing awareness on Macedonia among this region’s populace these days and we have enough reasons to feel optimistic about our whole mission,” said Jelu, who along with Turkish Airlines’ Aslan co-ordinated the tour of journalists and travel representatives.