Hidden gems under threat of tourism
Kotor, a mediaeval walled city in Montenegro, is losing authenticity
Montenegro's mediaeval walled city of Kotor, an Adriatic seaport cradled in a spectacular fjord-like bay, has survived centuries of weather and warfare.
Now it is facing a different kind of assault, that of gargantuan cruise ships disgorging throngs of tourists threatening a place that was only a few years ago commonly described as a "hidden gem".
The coastline the poet Lord Byron called the "most beautiful merging of land and sea" is now one of unbridled real estate development.
Kotor's bay and its white-stone old town have been hailed as an alternative for travellers looking to avoid the mass tourism choking Dubrovnik some 70km up the coast in Croatia.
Last year, Dubrovnik - also a mediaeval walled city and a Unesco World Heritage site - became synonymous with the global "overtourism" scourge, showing up on lists of destinations to avoid.
It has seen a marked surge of visitors since scenes of the HBO TV series Game Of Thrones were shot there. Now there are fears Kotor could meet a similar fate.
"Kotor was once known for being more authentic (than Dubrovnik) but now we are in the same place," said Ms Sandra Kapetanovic from Expedito, a local architecture group that advocates sustainable development.
"We are being transformed into a city of souvenir shops," she said, noting rising prices have forced out a library, salon, market and shoemaker in the past year.
Last week, a Lonely Planet writer tweeted a photo of a massive cruise ship moored in Kotor, which welcomes up to four of them at once, contributing to some 10,000 daily visitors.
Unesco, which named Kotor a World Heritage site in 1979, has been warning for years that rampant construction is threatening its main appeal - the city's "harmony" with the natural landscape.
In 2016, the UN cultural body threatened to revoke Kotor's heritage status - a wake-up call for the Montenegro authorities, who imposed a temporary moratorium on construction last year.
Warned Ms Ana Nives Radovic, head of Kotor's tourism body: "We are witnessing an era where we either make big changes, or we will be completely devastated if we just choose some profit from investments."
Today, tourism accounts for nearly a quarter of Montenegro's gross domestic product. The annual influx totals around two million visitors.
During summer, tourism puts "great pressure on cities, on the area, on communal infrastructure", said Mr Damir Davidovic, a senior Tourism Ministry official. The authorities are "analysing" the situation to find a balance. - AFP
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