Introduction of national park visit fee and awarding of mountain-guide certificates
On 8 June 2013 in the premises of the Information Tourist Center that operates within the frameworks of the National Park “Mavrovo” in Mavrovi Anovi, there was held a press conference organized on the occasion of the decision adopted on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia regarding the introduction of national park visit fee intended for the visitors of the national parks of “Mavrovo”, “Galicica” and “Pelister”.
The press conference was opened by the Minister of Environment and Urban Planning Mr. Abdulakim Ademi who pointed out that by introducing this national park visit fee the Government confirmed the importance of the engagement of the national parks towards pursuant preservation of the natural wealth of the Republic of Macedonia, thus providing greater amount of means for their more intense preservation. “I truly hope that this fee shall not be considered as an obstacle for exercising the right to visit the national parks, but on the contrary, shall be considered as a personal contribution for the preservation of the natural wealth of the Republic of Macedonia. The responsible behavior during the visit of the national parks shall continue to be the basic rule for entering the national park”, said Minister Ademi.
The decisions adopted in compliance with the positive law regulations stipulate the forms and the categories of fee that are to be paid by the visitors on their entering the national park, their stay in the Park, when parking their vehicles or when collecting forest fruit in the forests of the National Park. According to the decisions, free of all these fees are the persons who inhabit the area of the National Park. In the field of nature preservation, this represents a practical implementation of the principle of “the beneficiary is the one who pays”, and the collected means shall exclusively be used for the purpose of promoting and preserving the national park where these means were actually collected.
The Director of the National Park “Mavrovo” Mr. Oner Jakuposki notified that before these decisions become effective and enforced, a joint campaign of all the three national parks shall be realized for the purpose of informing the visitors about the new fees and having them adapted to the new rules. Mr. Jakuposki also used this opportunity to promote part of the projects realized in the National Park “Mavrovo” such as the marking of 510 km of mountain and bike routes as well as the project for licensing eight mountain guides which results in this National Park increasing its tourist offer by building up infrastructure and enhancing its human resources.
After the press conference finished, the Director of the National Park “Mavrovo”, the Minister of Environment and Urban Planning and the Mayor of the Municipality of Mavrovo and Rostusha awarded eight persons inhabitants of the territory of the National Park with certificates for professional mountain guides for their achievement in successfully completing the training under UIMLA standards, the training carried out by the Macedonian Association of International Mountain Guides.
