Tourists Find Hotels in Macedonia Too Expensive

Foreign visitors in Macedonia found the hotel prices in the country to be too high, national media reported today.

According to visitors, cited by the Vreme newspaper, accommodation prices in Skopje are higher than in London or Vienna. Macedonia’s capital boasts the highest accommodation prices because it is considered as the country’s business centre, the publication explained, adding that weekend rates were often lower than week-day ones.

Hotels in other towns were also expensive, starting at 20 euro, and much higher in tourist resorts.

On the other hand, representatives of the Macedonian hoteliers’ association told the publication that hotel prices would decrease when low-cost airlines begin operating in Macedonia, thus bringing up the number of visitors to the country.

According to them, accommodation prices in Macedonia are following the tendencies of the regional market.

Popova Sapka

Popova Šapka (sometimes mentioned as Popova Sapka or Popova Shapka) is one of the most famous winter-recreational and ski resorts in Macedonia and the former Yugoslavia. It is located in Šar Planina (mountain). The resort is situated on 18 km from Tetovo and from the capital, Skopje is just 48 km away.Šar Planina itself, is characterized by the numerous natural beauties, large areas covered with grass, flower meadows and 43 peaks at the height over 2,500 meters, above the sea level. The most famous is Titov Vrv - with a height of 2,747 meters, is in the vicinity of Popova Šapka. The beauty of the mountain is enhanced by the several springs and mountain lakes: Livadičko Lake, Crno Lake, Belo Lake, and others. Šar Planina is also rich with woods, that end at 1,600 meters above the sea level. In some of the higher parts of the mountain, the snow remains even during the warmest summer months. The length of this impressive mountain massif extends 80 km, and in latitude - 12 km. The snow cover is from November to April. Popova Šapka is located at the height of 1,708 meters.

Popova Šapka is connected to the nearest city, Tetovo, by a cable railway and a asphalt road. In the immediate vicinity of the Dervish Monastery Arabati Baba Tekje, in Tetovo, is the start of a cable car lift going up to Popova Šapka. The lift is 7 km long and it takes less than 40 minutes to reach Popova Šapka. A good asphalt road, that is passing by the mountainous villages of Gajre, Šipkovica and Lisec, leads to the complex of hotels and ski slopes, which can be used during the whole year, even in the winter months, (except in very bad snow storms), because the road is always being cleaned from the snow cover. The ski slopes in Popova Šapka are first class. They are connected by chair and drag-lifts.

There are 6 ski-lifts: Teteks 1, Teteks 2, Aerodrom, Ge (Pionir), Jelak and one parallel to the Aerodrom ski-lift. Also there are 3 chairlifts: Ceripašina and one parallel with Teteks and Aerodrom ski-lifts. The third one is by the Ceripašina double chairlift, but it is out of order. The Teteks ski-lifts are single drag, while all the rest are double drag. The lowest ski-slope is at Teteks ski-lift 1,708 meters, while the highest is Ceripašina chairlift at 2,510 meters. Just above Ceripašina chairlift is situated the Popova Šapka meteorological station, near the border with Serbia (Kosovo), on an altitude of 2,525 meters above the sea level. Several years ago a monastery complex was built by the church dedicated to St. Naum. There is a hut at the Ge (Pionir) ski-lift where the visitors can buy some tea or other products.

Information centers for tourist and cultural promotion of Macedonia

As many as ten information centers offering tourist services and presenting the cultural heritage will be set up across Macedonia in the course of this and the next year, government's spokesperson Ivica Bocevski said.

"The government is launching this campaign with an aim to boost the tourist and cultural promotion of Macedonia", Bocevski said, explaining that the project foresees mounting of prefabricated objects in all bigger cities in the country and at most frequent border crossings.

The objects will contain a mini-museum exhibition as well as authentic souvenirs and promotional audio and video materials presenting the abundant Macedonian cultural heritage in several languages.

The project will also create jobs for competent professionals, like custodians and historians.

10,000 tourists left Ohrid

Ohrid. The rains and sharp lowering of temperatures has reduced the number of tourists at the Ohrid Lake. Out of the record-breaking 30,000 people their number is now by 10,000 fewer, Macedonian Utrinski Vesnik writes. Mostly tourists at camping sites and private lodgings have left the area, whereas their number at hotels has reduced by some 20%.