The inaugural flight from Skopje to Malta took place Friday as TAV Macedonia is marking the introduction of three new routes, namely Malta, Rome and Vaxjo, as well as its decision to invest in the deployment of its fourth aircraft at the Skopje base.

The modern 180-seater Airbus A320 aircraft will conduct operations on the new routes from Skopje to Malta, Rome and Vaxjo.

“Wizz Air, Macedonia’s number one airline, keeps growing and providing more opportunities to our customers to travel in Europe and beyond on the lowest fares. Our fourth aircraft at Skopje Airport will create a number of additional local jobs with WIZZ and the new destinations added to the network mean an even greater choice for WIZZ passengers of 27 popular routes to 13 countries operating from Skopje,” Sorina Ratz, Communications Manager at Wizz Air said at a news conference.

The new aircraft allocated to WIZZ’s Skopje base is bringing the total investment by Wizz Air in Macedonia to over $396 million and a local staff of 139 employees, according to the Hungarian low-cost airline.

“I would like to express our appreciation for the decision of Wizz Air to base its 4th aircraft at Skopje Alexander the Great Airport, which is an important decision since the investment is huge and it shows that Macedonian aviation is still developing and stable. With basing 4th aircraft the airline will add three more new destinations – Vaxjo (Sweden), Malta and Rome, and increase the frequencies of some of the existing routes. TAV Macedonia will continue to work on opening new routes and expanding the frequencies of the existing ones, for which we closely cooperate with Ministry of Transport, and all competent governmental institutions, stated Alper Ersoy, TAV Macedonia General Manager.

Wizz Air’s massive expansion at its Skopje base brings an 17% increase to its total yearly capacity, including the increased frequencies on some of the most popular routes to: Eindhoven, Brussels Charleroi, Memmingen (Munich West), Copenhagen, Gothenburg Landvetter and Bratislava. At the same time, Wizz Air will provide a daily connection from Skopje to the popular destinations like Malmo and Mulhouse. The extended WIZZ low-fare network from Macedonia will further stimulate tourism and hospitality industries, while strengthening business relations between the countries, Wizz Air says in a press release.

Since the beginning of 2017, over half a million passengers traveled on WIZZ routes from Skopje, which is an increase of 12% compared to the same period last year and which supported over 375 jobs in associated industries in the area.

In the first six month of 2017, TAV Macedonia registered a 6% increase in the number of passengers compared to the same period last year, i.e. the two airports in Macedonia – Alexander the Great in Skopje and St. Paul the Apostle in Ohrid – handled a total of 860,130 passengers from January to July.

The summer season at Lake Ohrid will open Tuesday with the arrival of the first “Corendon” charter flight carrying Dutch tourists. Macedonian airports’ concessionaire TAV Macedonia says Minister of

Transport and Communications Vlado Misajlovski, TAV general manager Alp Er Tunga Ersoy and Ohrid Mayor Nikola Bakraceski will welcome the tourists at airport “St.Paul the Apostle”.

New promotion video for tourism in Macedonia of the the Agency for Promotion and Support of Tourism. Macedonia - The Pearl of the Balkans is a undiscovered tourism treasure.

The 16­minute film tickles the curiosity of every tourist, presenting the country’s tourism destinations, mountains, lakes, rivers, attractions, history, culture and archaeology, accompanied by music produced by traditional Macedonian instruments.

Macedonia is to present its tourist offer for the first time at the Scandinavia’s largest holiday fair – Danish Travel Show in the next three days.

Danish Travel Show occupies no less than 13 exhibition halls with over 1,100 exhibitors and 61,885 visitors. Agency for Tourism promoted nature and active tourism in Macedonia thus attracting great interest, Agency for Promotion and Support of Tourism said in a press release.

Fifty-one different countries exhibited at the show whereat Macedonia’s delegation held contacts with major tour operators for Denmark and Scandinavia – Sunweb, Appolo, Detur, Beach Tours, Suntur, TUI Denmark and Bravo Turs. Some of them announce to visit Macedonia and to include our country in their travel brochures.

To lay down standards and to establish conditions recognizing the profession of tour guide as a self-employment opportunity solely by investing in one's self through quality education, it was concluded Tuesday at a promotion of the first digital registry of qualified tour guides in Macedonia.

Tour guides, their representatives said, are considered ambassadors through whom a country is presented to foreign tourists. At the same time, tour guides are deemed the most vulnerable category in the tourism industry.

Latest surveys show that nearly 65% of the impressions from tours are a direct result of the quality of a tourist guide.

"Authentic presentation of cultural heritage and history must be protected. At the same time, the young people who are studying to become tour guides must invest in themselves and find ways to be self-employed," noted Branko Bosilkov of the Association of Tourist Guides.

There are 790 licensed tourist guides in Macedonia, but not all of them are full-time guides.

One of the most vulnerable links in the tourism industry are in fact tour guides, according to Elena Ivanova.

"On the other hand, tour guides are one of the most vital links in the chain of tourism having a serious impact on the impression of tourists," said the manager of the tourism sector at the Swiss programme on Increasing Market Employability (IME), which has supported the publishing of the registry.

The promotion of the first digital registry of qualified tourist guides in Macedonia was held on International Tourist Guide Day.

The publication encompasses all licensed tourist guides in Macedonia with the purpose to connect tour guides and travel agencies and to make the profession more dignified.

The Agency for Promotion and Support of Tourism of the Republic of Macedonia for a second year in a row is promoting active tourism at the International Natour Alpe-Adria Fair in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The agency also promotes traditional Macedonian food and wine, and visitors have the opportunity to taste Macedonian ajvar and cheese.

Agency’s delegation holds meeting with representatives of Slovenian Airline Adria Airways who showed interest in increasing the number of passengers from Ljubljana to Skopje.

The Agency for Promotion and Support of Tourism underlines in a press release the meetings with tour operators Compas, Oscar, Elephant travel, Slovenia Experience and Association of Slovenian Guides with which they agree cooperation in sharing expertise and professional experience for the establishment of ethical code of tourist guides.

The Association of Travel Journalists of Slovenia, FIJET, also expressed interest in the wine route and mountain tourism, expressing a desire to promote the tourist offer of Skopje and Ohrid.

More than 330 tourism providers from 15 countries take part at the International Natour Alpe-Adria Fair which is held from 1 to 4 February. 

One of the cheapest travel destinations for your family budget intended for you summer holidays are the countries that were last to join the EU or are out of the Union. Macedonia is the cheapest tourist destination in Europe, with lowest price index, writes Swedish daily newspaper “Dagens Nyheter” on its website.

Macedonia is followed by Bulgaria, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, as well as Poland and Romania, where the prices are also relatively low, the daily writes.

Thus, as MIA’s corespondent in Gothenburg reports, the Swedish media ahead of this year’s summer season once again advises to make comparison between the price indices in various countries. The difference in the prices is huge, and the countries out of EU are among the cheapest, as the case with Macedonia, but also among the most expensive as Switzerland and Norway.