Montenegro's Luka Kotor expects record-breaking 2024 cruise season - report

The first cruise ships are expected to arrive in the second half of March when is the official start of this year's cruise season, Radovic told local daily Pobjeda earlier this week.

Last year, 423 cruise ships with 505,000 tourists on board visited Luka Kotor, making it one of the most successful years for the port operator even though some 12 arrivals were cancelled in October and November due to bad weather.

Radovic said that Luka Kotor invested 1.2 million euro ($1.3 million) in its marina infrastructure last year. This year, it plans to invest some 700,000 euro in several projects, including the installation a mooring buffer for cruise ships, a project for seabed cleaning and procurement of boats, among others.

Luka Kotor's net profit edged up 0.5% on the year to 1.67 million euro in January-September 2023, according to its latest available financial report filed with the Montenegro Stock Exchange.

Its shares last traded on Tuesday, adding 6.66% to close at 8.53 euro.

The municipality of the coastal town of Kotor owns 56.97% of the company, followed by the state pension fund with 17.5% and an anonymous investor behind a custody account with 10.29%. The remainder belongs to smaller shareholders.

($ = 0.921 euro)