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31/07/2025

With a view to providing accurate information on tourism revenue data, and in response to public interest in this topic, the Central Bank of Montenegro hereby issues the following

CLARIFICATION

In accordance with its legal responsibilities, the Central Bank of Montenegro (CBCG) is not the official producer of tourism statistics. Its role is limited to compiling, solely for statistical purposes, estimates of revenues from foreign tourists for the purpose of compiling Montenegro’s Balance of Payments. This document gives an overview of total financial flows between Montenegro and the rest of the world, including the exchange of goods, services, investments, remittances, and other transactions. Revenues from foreign tourists represent only one of the items within this overview.

Accordingly, the CBCG does not provide assessments of tourism trends nor does it analyse the overall tourism season but rather, in line with the Balance of Payments Methodology established in 2002, processes available data on revenues generated from foreign tourists. This Methodology was developed in cooperation with international experts and is continuously improved, in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, with the aim of strengthening the coverage and quality of the data.

The data used by the CBCG are primarily based on the number of overnight stays by non-residents. As a result, differences may arise when compared with other analyses that serve different purposes and therefore apply different methodological approaches and/or include residents and other forms of domestic tourism-related spending.

Recognizing the shortcomings in the current tourism statistics system, and partly upon the initiative of the Central Bank of Montenegro, the Council of the Statistical System of Montenegro has established an inter-institutional working group tasked with exploring the avenues for improving tourism statistics. The goal of this initiative is to create a unified institutional framework for the production, consolidation, and public presentation of data on tourism and tourism revenues in order to ensure consistent and comparable statistics as a foundation for effective policymaking in this area.

The Central Bank of Montenegro remains committed to a transparent and responsible approach in the production and publication of statistics within its mandate, as well as to inter-institutional cooperation, in the interest of accurate public information and support for the development of Montenegro’s economy.

Marijana Mitrović Mijatović

Director of Department for Financial Stability, Research and Statistics