Why do money for rural tourism development remain unused?
Only three to four percent of European funds and government programs are used to develop rural tourism. A survey by the NGO Rural Coalition showed that money hardly reach those who have decided to deal with this business. The state is insufficiently promoting support programs.
"Much more attention is needed to informe about these measures, and contact directly the owners of such businesses measures in order the measures to be promoted and assure theirs use" - said Liljana Nikolovski, executive director of "Rural Coalition"
Owners say that the conditions required by the European funds and IPARD programs are very complex and unreachable to them.
"We do not have the capacity to afford this, the conditions are very difficult, unacceptable, we have started and then gave up," says Zoran Petrov, a resident of the village. Lesnovo
For the development of rural tourism, better roads, plumbing and sewers in the villages are also needed. To revive this type of tourism, legal changes are also needed.
"Furthermore, changes to the Law on traditional manufacturing, facilitation of the criteria and tax regulations are needed. They shall not to be treated as usual tourist facilities because these capacities are smaller and have less capabilities in terms of finances and everything else" - emphasizes Jonoski
Macedonia also lacks categorization of facilities and trained people. For the time being, the leader in the region for the development of rural tourism is Bulgaria, which together with Serbia has invested in the development of this branch in the last several years.