At the very beginning of the conference, the guests, online participants, but also other panelists were addressed by the esteemed Daniel Hunn, Ambassador of Switzerland in BiH, who pointed out that about 60,000 Bosnians and Herzegovinians currently live in Switzerland. He believes that all of them, in all possible ways, should be encouraged to invest even more in their homeland, and especially in tourism. Like many other panelists, Ambassador Hunn believes that Bosnia and Herzegovina has a huge tourist potential, thanks to its untouched natural resources, but also its cultural heritage.

Respected Steliana Nedera, UNDP Resident Representative in BiH, has a similar opinion, who, in addition to the beauties of the nature of Bosnia and Herzegovina, also emphasizes the beauties of the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is in tourism that Ms. Nedera sees the possibility of progress in the Bosnian economy, stating that special emphasis should be placed on improving the digital promotion of domestic beauties.

The esteemed Laura Lungarotti, IOM Head of Mission in BiH and Regional Coordinator for the Western Balkans agrees with the mentioned panelists, but adds that BiH ambassadors, currently on duty in many European and world countries, should work especially on the promotion of BiH tourism.

How can the BiH diaspora contribute to the development of tourism in BiH?

The Executive Director of the i-Diaspora, Mr. Nikola Buric, pointed out that the number of, specifically, Swiss tourists in BiH, until the appearance of the coronavirus, grew significantly from year to year. Unfortunately, as in other countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina faced large losses in this area last year, but Mr. Buric hopes that this year, but also in the coming years, the number of foreign visits to our country will be equal to the visits recorded in 2019. , and gradually increase.

According to a survey conducted by the BiH Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees, the BiH diaspora annually "sends" between 2-3 billion BAM to their homeland, claims Kemo Sarac, assistant minister from the Emigration Sector. According to the above research, our emigrants have expressed significant interest in investing in BiH, if they have a reliable local partner. And tourism is just one of the more fruitful branches of the economy in which our diaspora would invest.

However, in Sarac's opinion, the representatives of the diaspora should, above all, be recognized, informed about certain details, and ultimately provided with quality services at all levels of government.

Impact of COVID-19 on tourism

This topic was especially discussed by prof. Alessandra Priante, Regional Director for Europe of the UN World Tourism Organization. The data obtained by the research indicate that world tourism has suffered as much as 83% of losses compared to the previous year. Over 120,000,000 jobs have been lost in this area, and a full recovery, despite the growing mass vaccination of the population, will not happen for the next few years, adds prof. Priante. However, the promotion of rural tourism, especially in BiH, then the establishment of a network of sustainable tourism, innovation and investment can help future recovery.

And all of the above inevitably reflected on our country. According to the data of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, losses in the amount of about 70% were recorded, which refers to the visits of foreign tourists to Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also to job losses. Although, in the opinion of Mr. Mirza Hujic, Assistant Minister from the Sector for Water Resources, Tourism and Environmental Protection, Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, the involvement of the authorities in this area is noticeable, tourism still needs help. First of all, we need a legal framework, a better marketing strategy, but also greater engagement of our diaspora, thanks to which domestic, less attractive, destinations have been visited before.

In addition to the mentioned speakers, the participants were addressed by university professors, the Mayor of Bihać, representatives of various international organizations, owners of travel agencies and other lovers of tourism.

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