The government has reached a decision on increasing the amount of subsidies intended to attract tourists from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Bulgaria from 25 to 35 euros per tourist.

An organized stay in Macedonia including at least seven accommodations and the tourists to arrive in the country by plane are the conditions to allocate a subsidy for tourists from BiH, Serbia and Bulgaria, government spokesman Aleksandar Gjorgiev told Tuesday's press conference.

Apart from this, as of 1 January 2015 subsidies estimated at 65 euros per tourist are set to be provided to attract tourists from Germany, the United States, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Qatar. The condition to get subsidies for tourists from these countries is to have at least three accommodations in Macedonia.

“Tourism is a branch registering a continuously positive trend of growth of general indicators suggesting that the government-run policies in this sphere are yielding results. In the past few years, the number of tourists from abroad and from the country is constantly increasing year after year. In the period from January till August 2014, compared to the same period last year, the number of tourists rose by 5.9%. The number of local tourists increased by 2.3% and that of foreign visitors rose by 9%,” said Gjorgiev.

The new amounts for subsidies, he added, will significantly boost the opportunities to attract as many tourists as possible from these countries in order to visit Macedonia. “Contacts are already being made with travel agencies in these countries and with local travel agents.”