Skiing Season Starts In Macedonia

Photo by: ski Kozuf

“The novelty that we will be offering this year is night skiing on illuminated runs”, says Pero Dimitriesk, head of the Popova Shapka ski resort, one of the largest in Macedonia, located in the north west of the country.

He says they already have tourists from nearby Albania, Kosovo and Serbia as well as groups of extreme skiers coming from Scandinavian countries.

“Now that the snow is finally here the ski runs are in top condition,” he said.

In Macedonia's largest resort of Mavrovo, located in the north-west of the country, there will be a newly-opened skating rink, while prices of a daily ski pass remain as last year, at eighteen euros, while in Popova Shapka the cost is fifteen, and in Krusevo the cost is nine.

The cost of accomodation varies from forty euros per night up to a hundred in the more exclusive hotels. Last weeks' heavy snowfalls were welcomed after a dry autumn.

“The snow cover at the moment is 87 centimetres and it’s still snowing” said Pero Tanevski, the marketing director at the Kozuf ski center.

The ski resort of Kozuf near the country’s southern border with Greece is still under construction. The centre so far offers nine ski runs, two mountain restaurants and hotel accommodation for 120 people.

“We expect to have over 2000 visitors over coming weekends, coming mainly from Macedonia and Greece. We will also offer arrangements for hotels in [the nearby town of] Gevgelija with ski cards and transportation to the mountain included”, Tanevski told Balkan Insight.

However, tourist workers fear home resorts, having little new to offer, are losing the battle with their larger competitors in nearby Bulgaria and Serbia.
 
Macedonian resorts need “more ski runs, lifts and drags, and more versatile offers, from entertainment to accommodation”, says Snezana Jovanovska, the head of the Macedonian Hospitality and Tourism Chamber.

She said that last year many foreign and Macedonian tourists preferred Bansko in Bulgaria or Kopaonik in Serbia over the ski slopes in her country.