Serbian mountains record visits of tourists. While until a few days ago, more beds were sought in almost all hotels on Kopaonik or Zlatibor, there are those who resent the organization of ski centers due to insufficiently arranged infrastructure, which is increasingly difficult to bear the number of skiers. It seems that Kopaonik is in the lead among them, where there was a wait of more than 45 minutes for the cable car, which is inadmissible, especially with the current epidemiological situation, but also the price of the ski pass.
Danijela Bogunović from Belgrade also told us that she was unpleasantly surprised by the crowds and “chaos” on one of the most beautiful Serbian mountains. She and her family have been skiing in centers in Austria and Italy for ten years, but she also says that Kopaonik has all the predispositions to become a world-class ski center. However, it is inadmissible to invest very little in infrastructure, while on the other hand, hotels and apartment accommodations are being built uncontrollably.
– And then you get into a situation where you pay for a ski pass almost like in one of the world’s most famous ski centers, and you wait on the cable car for an hour – Danijela Bogunović told us. – The “plug” with the extraction of skiers from the center of Kopaonik, which has been a problem for years, has not been resolved this season either. It is simply unbelievable that there are still only three lifts from the center, one six-seater and two four-seater, which are incredibly slow. On top of all that, last week the “Pančić” cable car broke down and it was allegedly waiting for a part from Austria to arrive in order to eliminate the fault. Such technical unpreparedness, for the season in which a large number of people came to Kopaonik due to the situation with the corona, is inadmissible.
According to Bogunović, even for someone who does not understand much about skiing, it is clear that for a start it would be enough to do a few things, including investing in a gondola to Pančić, and to go to the “Karaman greben” and “Karaman” lifts or by installing an eight-seater. Also, the “Sunny Valley” trails should be connected to Pančić..
– In the past years, thousands of square meters of apartment and hotel accommodation have sprung up, four to five kilometers from the center of Kopaonik, such as the Weekend Settlement, Treska – Bogunović points out. – These parts are still not connected by cable cars to the system of trails, and considering that there are no shuttle buses for transporting skiers on Kopaonik, which exist in all ski centers, people who are accommodated in these settlements come as they know how to come.
Danijela adds that the parking lots on Kopaonik are a special story, that is, the lack of them. The garage in the center solved the problem to some extent, but that is not enough. In a large number of “wild parking lots” that have sprung up along the main street, the government is making a fuss. Prices are determined from time to time, and none of them is adequately cleaned and prepared to receive vehicles.
Due to extraordinary circumstances, urgent intervention is necessary at the departure station of the Pančić cable car, which will be out of function for the next five days.
The company appeals to skiers and boarders to use alternative routes to join the ski resort system, such as Gobelja, Jaram, Marine Vode, Mali Karaman, Sunny Valley and Treska. In this way, the center of the ski resort will be relieved, and users will have the opportunity to use all the slopes in the ski center Kopaonik.
About 20 percent of hotel reservations have been canceled these days due to the corona. Due to illness, the guests even canceled the paid arrangements. By January 15, the hotels in the mountains were 100 percent full. For February, at least when it comes to reservations, the situation is good and up to 80 percent is expected to be filled.
According to Georgi Genov, director of the Association of Hoteliers and Restaurateurs of Serbia, hotels also have certain actions, so they stimulate guests to come. However, it would be good for the PCR test to be cheaper, because there are a large number of guests from Romania and the surrounding countries, who later need this result to be able to return home, Novosti reports.
