Skopje, 5 September 2022 (MIA) – There are a few licensed tourism inspectors in the country, two in Skopje and probably a couple in Ohrid. The market is unregulated, the number of unlicensed tour guides is great, and the shadow economy is quietly and continuously growing, says the director of the Agency for Promotion and Support of Tourism, Ljupcho Janevski. Janevski compares the current domestic tourism industry to El Dorado, lacking inspectors and police. “The domestic tourism industry is like El Dorado right now, and it should be regulated by the local self-government. The inability to regulate the market, to improve the law on tourism that’s been stuck for years, as well as the inability to form a tourism inspection and police force, has made it possible for the shadow economy to grow, which leads to a lack of competitiveness in the tourism industry. Take Skopje and Ohrid as examples of two tourist centers. There are two licensed tourism inspectors in Skopje, and only a couple in Ohrid. That’s not nearly enough for market regulation. That’s why we have unlicensed tour guides,” Janevski tells MIA. He also believes that the Agency for Tourism should have more authorization. “I said it before that the pandemic would show its true colors one way or the other – and it showed that we weren’t ready to regulate the market. We must do that and to give the investors a clear signal to invest in new accommodation facilities, and to improve the current ones’ work and services, to make them competitive against other destinations. The grey area in tourism should be reduced by 15-20%, which would be a huge success in the next 2-3 years,” Janevski says. dk/ba/