COVER STORY
Worldwide, international arrivals grew +5% in
2019, and, in Europe growth was +4%. Southern
Mediterranean destinations led growth with most
destinations enjoying double - digit growth.
Among the larger destinations are Greece and
Croatia.
In Macedonia in the period from January to July
2019, compared to the same period last year,
the total number of nights spent increased by
0.9%. With the expected growth of +5% to +7%
of tourists and over - night stays respectively,
Macedonia will exceed the number of 1.3
million tourist visitors and as close as 4 million
nights spent in 2019. Leisure travel is the main
purpose of visit in all world regions where visiting
friends and relatives (VFR) or health or religious
purposes predominate. This is completely proven
as a situation in Macedonia as well. Additionally,
adventure tourism is one of the fastest growing
tourism sectors in the world, and in North
Macedonia in the last years this trend is fully
established.
Macedonia is also suitable for gastronomy
tourism which forms an integral part of local life
and is forged by the history, culture, economy and
society of a territory. With the natural potential to
enrich the visitor experience, establish a direct
connection to the region, its people, culture
and heritage, Macedonia is greatly positioned
to benefit from this kind of tourism. Although
a small destination, Macedonia is very well
connected by air with almost all of Europe via
charter flights or low cost airline carriers, and
with few internationally connecting hubs such
as Istanbul or Vienna. The main challenge that
will remain in the next 3-5 years is preserving
sustainable growth with activities that will lead
to greater results. Few of the factors that would
lead to greater results are: better road and rail
connection within the region; advanced tourist
products that will attract the travelers to Southern
Mediterranean destinations to visit and stay in
Macedonia, reshaping this micro destination
into a regional destination with cooperation with
neighboring countries so the tourist can spend
more days in the region enjoying different kind
of visits and activities, and creating a tourism
content so the tourist will prolong their stay up
to 5 days in Macedonia. Some of the ways this
can be done is by developing high class tourism
on lake sides and on mountains, as well as
developing leisure venues with spa and medical
treatment for retirement tourists from Europe.
New Member Highlight
InPlayer is a Macedonian-British company which develops its
own monetization platform, and in that way helps many worldwide
companies to monetize their digital content. Digital content
monetization is an attractive industry, and InPlayer, thanks to its
dedicated, state-of-the-art platform, and the experienced and
dedicated team, has been well positioned on the market, and further aims to become leader in the
industry and the market.
The numerous success stories of the company are largely due to the constant investment in new
technology and experts, who on their end are focused on what they do, and always ready for new
challenges. Thanks to the dedication, innovation, and persistence, InPLayer’s current goal is to
expand even more on the domestic market. For the past years, that trend has only been growing. By
the end of this year, another office is planned to be opened, where the focus will be on new, creative
people and ideas, and where the ream spirit of the company and its entire team will take a central
position.
24
EMERGING MACEDONIA