Ohrid on the cover of Sun-Herald Travel Section

[Coolski]

It was a pleasant surprise to say the least! Check it out!

[Pelister]

I was flicking through the pages and saw the picture this morning. It took a second for me to realize that it looked familiar. Its good to see it in a mainstream Australian paper.

[Coolski]

Let's hope the season is better next year. Apparently it's the worst in 40 years this year. I suspect it has something to do with less travellers to Greece and less Euro tourists due to the financial troubles on the continent.

[Phoenix]

I think Ohrid and Macedonia in general are still unknown destinations for most tourists. Although things are improving in terms of promotion it remains a destination primarily for the Macedonian diaspora...

The redevelopment of Alexander the Great Airport will greatly improve the current situation...I would like to see a greater effort by the Macedonian Government in creating a strong, viable and professional tourism sector, comprising of multi-lingual guides and tourist operators that are properly licensed and meeting predetermined standards...

[MKD]

I think Ohrid and Macedonia in general are still unknown destinations for most tourists. Although things are improving in terms of promotion it remains a destination primarily for the Macedonian diaspora...

The redevelopment of Alexander the Great Airport will greatly improve the current situation...I would like to see a greater effort by the Macedonian Government in creating a strong, viable and professional tourism sector, comprising of multi-lingual guides and tourist operators that are properly licensed and meeting predetermined standards...

What is the real deal with Ohrid Airport? I know that Skopje is not that far away but it would be great if Ohrid was utilised more (especially in summer)

The website for Ohrid Airport shows the following timetable of arrivals/departures but I think its really outta date:

http://ohd.airports.com.mk/default.aspx?ItemID=360

The wiki site for Ohrid Airport also shows that Helvetic and Edelweiss operate flights from Zurich but looking at their websites show nothing about Ohrid.

If your coming from Australia or even the states, it would be great to be able to get into Zurich, Vienna or etc and then get a small flight to Ohrid directly. I know you can go to Belgrade for Ohrid, pretty sure they still operate, but that would mean another flight in between which is last thing u want after being on a 20 hour flight.

What also happened to the talk of Hilton hotel making a site in Ohrid? Is the "palace" hotel in Ohrid still a derelict site covered by ugly fencing?

[Coolski]

Is it perhaps a seasonal flight? Most of the flights to Ohrid are seasonal.

Actually, Ohrid might have the potential to supply surrounding Macedonian regions of Lerinsko, Mala Prespa etc.

As for Ohrid's large hotels, i don't know what's going on. I haven't been to MKD for a few years now, but from what I remember, accommodation was overpriced and below quality. Until prices drop or the quality increases, we probably won't see too many tourists visiting en masse.

[Coolski]

btw MKD the signature of my posts may have confused u as I used to post with under the alias MKD back on maknews. I changed it to Bushav and Coolski here on MTO about a year or 2 ago, hence the reference in my signature. Looks like i'll change it now so ppl dont confuse it with your login.

[Big Bad Sven]

So Ohrid had the worst level of tourism in the past 40 years hey, what happend to all of serbian and albanian tourists that supposodly generate the majority of the income for Ohrid?

With no serbian and albanian tourists to pamper and idolize over im guessing all of the local people were actually nice to the australian macedonians this year

[Prolet]

BBS, I spoke to my mate a few days ago and he said that Ohrid is flooded with Serbian Tourists. There was an article in the Serbian website how the Serbs spent over 600,000 million euros on holidays, enough to build 4 bridges and freeways up to 300km long.

[Big Bad Sven]

ejjjj bratko, that is correct but it does not really count much for macedonia because as the article suggests serbs have been going and spending their money in these places (following order):

Greece
Montenegroe
Turkey
Croatia

http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/16176/46/

Seems with the serbian visa restrictions lifted they are making the most of it and travelling to other destinations. Could hurt Ohrids tourism though...

[Phoenix]

BBS, I spoke to my mate a few days ago and he said that Ohrid is flooded with Serbian Tourists. There was an article in the Serbian website how the Serbs spent over 600,000 million euros on holidays, enough to build 4 bridges and freeways up to 300km long.

Where the fuck are Serbs going to find 600, 000 million euros of disposable income...what orifice did you pull those figures from prolet...???

[Rogi]

Yeah, I noticed that too... EU600 Billion... maybe he meant EU600 Million.

[Prolet]

600m euros is the correct figure

They love going on holidays it seems lol

[Bij]

ohrid was full of serbs last year.. fuck that for a joke. another reason to avoid ohrid in the summer

[Prolet]

Bij, Thats because Ohrid is the Jerusalem of Europe, why wouldnt want to go there??

The more tourists the better i think, either way lets hope they lift the standards in Ohrid so they can attract turists from all over the world.