OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina supports conference on tourism in Upper Drina Region
Strengthening co-operation in tourism between local communities was the focus of a conference organized by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina in co-operation with the city of Goražde and the municipalities of Foča, Rudo, and Višegrad, held on 27 November 2018 in Goražde.
The aim of the conference, which gathered more than 30 representatives of the cantonal institutions, municipalities, relevant ministries and tourist agencies, was to discuss the importance of public-private partnership between local communities in order to improve regional tourism competitiveness.
The conference was also an opportunity to present a new tourist guidebook, Experience the Drina Valley, which represents a joint tourist offer of Foča, Goražde, Višegrad and Rudo.
“The Upper Drina region, which has been struggling for many years with economic difficulties, has extraordinary potential in the area of tourism in the form of natural beauty and cultural heritage,” said Marek Kubiček, Head of the OSCE Field Office Foča. “Unfortunately, this potential has not been realized, mostly due to the absence of any regional co-operation mechanism.”
As a response to this situation, the OSCE Field Office Foča initiated regional cross-entity co-operation at the beginning of this year, including bringing together representatives from the selected municipalities. The tourist guidebook presented today is the first tangible result of those efforts.
“We hope that this partnership will further flourish and will serve as a driving force for the future prosperity of the region,” Kubiček added.