Director of the Montenegro Toursim Association (MTA), Mr. Zarko Radulovic and director of the LGBT Forum Progress Zdravko Cimbaljević met today to start a dialogue on the formal recognition of Montenegro as a touristic destination that is tolerant and has no boundaries when it comes to guests, in this case LGBT tourists who would like to spend their holidays in Montenegro.
Direktor Crnogorskog turističkog udruženja (CTU) gospodin Žarko Radulović i direktor LGBT Foruma Progres Zdravko Cimbaljević sastali su se danas kako bi otpočeli dijalog o zvaničnom prepoznavanju Crne Gore kao turističke destinacije koja je tolerantna i nema granica kada su u pitanju njihovi gosti, a u ovom slučaju LGBT turisti koji bi željeli ljetovati u Crnoj Gori.
Cimbaljević informed Radulovic of the need for enhanced recognizability of the Montenegrin hotels, as it is already a trend in the world’s tourist destinations, as gay friendly hotels.
Radulovic pointed out that there has never been any difference in treatment of guests in the MTA and that this association does not have any reserves towards LGBT persons who were their guests so far. Radulovic also agreed with Cimbaljević that, given the situation in the country and a large amount of homophobia and transphobia, one needs to be transparent and show the future LGBT guests, that at least in the hotels of MTA they can feel safe and receive equal treatment as all the other guests.
On a proposal of the Director of LGBT Forum Progress Zdravko Cimbaljević, MTA has accepted to set a rainbow color tile on every hotel belonging to the Association, which will mark them as a gay friendly hotel and thus enable LGBT tourists who come to Montenegro to choose those hotels in which they will not have problems just because they belong to a different sexual orientation.
LGBT Forum Progress praises this positive approach of the MTA, which shows that in Montenegro there is a strong will to develop tourism and above all to respect the rights of all individuals of society and of the members of the LGBT population, regardless of whether they came from Montenegro or from another part of the world.
Cimbaljević je upoznao Radulovića sa potrebom za boljom prepoznatljivošću crnogorskih hotela kao, kako to već postoji u svijetskim turističkim destinacijama, gej prijateljski hoteli (gay friendly hotels).
Radulović je istakao da u CTU nikada nije bilo razlika u tretmanu gostiju i da su do sada gosti hotela bile i osobe LGBT populacije prema kojima ovo Udruženje nema nikakvih rezervi. Radulović se takođe složio sa Cimbaljevićem da, s obzirom na stanje u zemlji i veliku količinu homofobije i transfobije, treba biti transparentniji i pokazati dolazećim gostima LGBT populacije da se makar u hotelima CTU mogu osjećati bezbjedno i dobiti jednak tretman kao i svi ostali gosti.
Na prijedlog direktora LGBT Foruma Progres Zdravka Cimbaljevića, CTU je prihvatilo da se na svakom hotelu koje pripada ovom Udruženju postavi pločica u duginim bojama, kaja će označiti hotel kao gej frendli i tako omogućiti LGBT turistima koji dolaze u Crnu Goru da izaberu one hotele u kojima neće imati problema samo zbog toga što pripadaju drugačijoj seksualnoj orijentaciji.
LGBT Forum Progres pohvaljuje ovako pozitivan pristup CTU-a što pokazuje da u Crnoj Gori postoji volja da se turizam razvija a prije svega da se poštuju prava svih pojedinaca društva pa i pripadnika i pripadnica LGBT populacije bez obzira da li oni dolazili iz Crne Gore ili iz nekog drugog dijela svijeta.
