We spoke and traveled with Norwegian journalist Sverre Bjorstadt Graff throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Famous Norwegian journalist Sverre Bjorstadt Graff, after 12 years, revisited Bosnia and Herzegovina, eager to introduce its tourist offerings to over 50,000 readers in Norway.
“Bosnia and Herzegovina is a fantastic hidden gem!” said Sverre Bjorstadt Graff
His adventure of untold stories began in Sarajevo and ended in Neum.
“12 years ago, I visited Sarajevo for the first time, and today I notice that the city is completely modernized, yet it has retained its old charm and soul, which is very important to me as a visitor. This beautiful soul of Sarajevo makes me feel truly welcome!”
In a conversation with Sverre, USAID Turizam discovered that most Norwegians have heard of Sarajevo and Mostar, but the 24km long coastline on the Adriatic Sea remains unknown to many. Hence, while carefully preparing Sverre’s travel plan, USAID Turizam took advantage of sunny September days to visit Neum and the wider Herzegovinian region.
“I am very excited to see and experience many places that I managed to explore a little on the internet. Sharing time, meeting local people, tasting local specialties, and exploring these beauties , I am really looking forward to it!”
Sverre Bjorstadt Graff had the opportunity during his journey to taste various specialties of the local cuisine, as well as to participate in the preparation of traditional dishes.
Norway is a country that has a defined tourism strategy until 2030 . The strategy is implemented under the slogan “Big Impact, Small Footprint”, emphasizing the importance of sustainability at the destination level and for companies operating in tourism. Moreover, Norway introduced a sustainable destination label for all tourism services dedicated to preserving local communities, cultural heritage, and the environment. This is an added value for Norwegians and they always prefer locations with this label.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has recently adopted tourism development strategies at the entity level, which is an important step in promoting sustainable tourism. This document integrates modern practices that will assist in developing new tourist products and improving digital marketing, as well as the overall quality of services in tourism.
According to the Agency for Statistics of BiH, from January to July, Bosnia and Herzegovina was visited by 2,738 Norwegian tourists, 9.8 percent more than in the same period last year. They accounted for 5,943 overnight stays and, on average, stayed in BiH for 2.2 days, which is on par with the average for foreign tourists.
In 2022, a total of 4,065 tourists came from this Scandinavian country, almost 3.5 times more than in 2021, accounting for 8,342 overnight stays, or 2.1 overnight stays per arrival.
These encouraging data show that interest from Scandinavian countries is growing for destinations in BiH, and Sverre’s enthusiasm for Bosnia and Herzegovina confirms that this increase in visits from Norway will continue.
In his seven-day journey through Bosnia and Herzegovina, from Sarajevo, through Jablanica, Konjic, Blagaj, Stolac, Trebinje, to Neum, Sverre enriched his experience with new locales, new acquaintances and concluded: “In just a few days spent here, I feel like I’ve been here at least two weeks, because I manage to do so much in such a short time. And that is a compliment, it means that I filled my days with so many wonderful things and met such wonderful people.”
And until next time, awaiting the article about Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sverre bid us farewell saying:
“I learned during my stay here that you have a saying – If you drink water from Baščaršija, you’ll return again. Tomorrow morning, before I head to the airport, I will go there and drink a little water. Maybe I’ll take some more water back to Norway and share it with the Norwegians.”
