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On Friday, August 19, it will be seven years since the foundation stone for the Zlatibor Gold Gondola was laid. This is the largest investment of the Municipality of Čajetina, worth 13.5 million euros.

The presentation of the latest trends in marketing, technology and business was in the center of interest of representatives of the Gold Gondola Zlatibor, who during the past weekend participated in one of the largest business conferences in Southeast Europe - Spark.me. Representatives of Gold Gondola, whose creativity leads to success, closely followed the presentation in order to take advantage of the moment and improve business with innovative content.

We wish to have as many satisfied gondola visitors as possible, and to respond to their needs in the best possible way, we constantly strive to improve our offer and the quality of services. We are proud of over 350,000 transported passengers, whom we are thankful for the trust we have shown. We want them to come back to us again and again, and we will try to make their experience better every time they come back for the gondola ride. There is no better feeling for us than when we see the satisfied smiles of our visitors that speak more than 1000 words.

To make the number of satisfied visitors to the Zlatibor gondola as high as possible, and for satisfied tourists to return for new rides, the company "Gold Gondola" will continue to improve its offer and quality of services this year as well. Therefore, preparations and implementation of plans for 2022 have already begun, in which an important item will be the purchase of new cabins. "Procurement of cabins is one of the activities we are planning for this year, and the funds for that have been secured. Our goal is to shorten the waiting time for cabins, although now the wait is less than a minute, but also to increase the capacity of our gondola. The figures on visits and gondola rides are really impressive. Only in the first 20 days of January, about 30,000 people drove, and we have already exceeded the figure of 300,000 in the first year of operation, which is a fantastic number; and - let's move on," said Bojana Božanić, director of JP "Gold Gondola".

In the previous days, the management of the PE "Gold Gondola Zlatibor" visited the complete route in order to prepare and implement plans for 2022. In order to have as many satisfied gondola visitors as possible, and to respond to their needs in the best possible way, we are constantly striving to improve our offer and quality of services. We plan to buy 20 new cabins, to build roof over the mechanical part of middle station and the upper station. We also plan to continue works on the administrative building at the gondola lower station.

The Zlatibor gondola has just completed a full year of operation. A year marked by unprecedented success, huge media attention, record breaking, awards and other recognitions that made us proud. The pride of Zlatibor, which in a very short time has become not only the biggest attraction, but also a real tourist flywheel of the entire region. The year that has just passed imposes the need for a small recapitulation of all the significant events we have gone through in the past period. The cold winter morning of January 11th always reminds us of the huge queues of passengers who eagerly awaited the first cabins from the Intermediate station in the desire to grab a piece of Zlatibor's history for themselves. That same day was also a great overture for the grand opening which was planned a few days later. The technical correctness and the overall functioning of this demanding installation as well as the whole system functioning was a serious organizational challenge. The visit of the President of the State required a special protocol, and in addition it was necessary to host ministers, state secretaries, domestic and foreign partners in the project, as well as representatives of local government, but also a large number of interested citizens who are attracted by such events. We bravely went through perhaps the most demanding part of the year, the winter season, and step by step, gained routine, which greatly helped us to overcome even some serious challenges in work, such as rigid epidemiological measures, strong winds, thunder and others disasters that could possibly affect the smooth operation of the largest installation of this type in the world. A large number of TV crews and journalists simply raced to make a report on the longest panoramic gondola. It was breaking news in those days and one of the main topics even today. One of the few installations of this type that works throughout the year, required a lot of time and effort invested in regular and timely maintenance. Regular technical inspections were done every month, which enabled our gondola to work smoothly and with as few interruptions as possible, and the number of passengers speaks directly in favor of that. We really consider transporting 230,000 passengers in conditions of limited capacity due to binding epidemiological measures, which we are very proud of. What makes us especially happy is the large number of transported foreign tourists, especially those from extremely distant destinations, which are on Zlatibor, from year to year, more and more and who did not miss the opportunity to ride through this great attraction. Numerous groups of tourists from India, Pakistan, China and other distant countries have included gondola rides in their itinerary. In addition to them, we had the honor to host the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, the ambassadors of the Czech Republic and Egypt, and a special curiosity was the visit of two active Russian cosmonauts who, despite their extremely attractive invitation, were impressed by the ride and all the beauties Zlatibor has to offer. Famous Serbian singer Ivana Selakov chose the Gold Gondola to record her new video, and the ride through the beautiful landscapes of our mountain has repeatedly inspired travelers and given a wonderful, romantic occasion for several propositions that took place in our cabins. In addition, throughout the year we have not forgotten the humanitarian and socially responsible character that we certainly have as a public company, so we regularly gave our contribution through gift rides to children with special needs, as well as other youngest, supported youth sports games, festival "Licidersko srce ", But they were also patrons of many events. Recognition for our work, work and overall merits in tourism in general, came only a few days ago. Gold Gondola is a proud winner of this year's "Tourist Flower" award, given by the Tourist Organization of Serbia for its contribution to the improvement of tourism and raising the quality of tourist services. This award has been awarded continuously for 36 years, and the Gold Gondola won this prestigious award in the first year of its operation. At the moment, the big annual service and technical inspection is nearing completion, and preparations are being made for the upcoming winter season, where, at the very least, we expect the same interest as the previous ones. Such a successful year, which is slowly behind us, has set very high standards for each following year, and it is up to us to meet those standards and move them up. We are starting the New Year with the goal of setting new records and winning new awards.

During the New Year's holidays Zlatibor breaks all attendance records together with the “Gold Gondola”. According to the data of the Tourist Organization of Zlatibor our mountain hosted over 50,000 guests for the holidays. Almost spring weather and temperatures lured thousands of people from their apartments and the main attraction was the “golden” gondola. The characteristic winter season queues have been formed since the early morning and a large number of passengers have been patiently standing in line waiting for their cabin. In just four New Year's days, the “Gold gondola” transported over 6,000 passengers. The result would have been far more impressive if epidemiological measures had not yet been in force, halving cabin capacity and limiting the maximum number of passengers to 5 persons per cabin. A special curiosity for the first New Year that we "celebrate" with our passengers is a special holiday offer in the form of two cabins decorated in New Year's attire that passengers could rent only for themselves. In addition to the special features of the cabin itself, passengers who opted for this package were allowed to enter without waiting in line, and a welcome gift was waiting for them at the entrance. Due to the great interest shown by the passengers, we decided that this holiday offer lasts until January 15th, in order to give passengers as much as possible the opportunity to enjoy this special ride.

The team of "National Geographic", a renowned world-famous TV channel and popular science magazine, is currently filming a show about "Gold Gondola" as a world attraction and the longest panoramic gondola. This will be the second topic from Serbia, after the Bridge on Ada, which "National Geographic" has been dealing with in the last fifteen years. The whole world will have the opportunity to see this show and some of the most beautiful places and attractions in Serbia. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC is the world's highest-circulation popular science magazine and one of the most awarded global media. Exciting texts and breathtaking photos are a monthly ticket to travel around the world. With the basic goal of inspiring people to take care of the planet.

Gold gondola is this year's winner of the prestigious award "Tourist Flower" in the category "Organization or individual for contribution to the promotion of tourism and raising the quality of tourist services." The Tourist Flower is traditionally awarded to individuals and legal entities for significant achievements in raising the quality of tourist services, as well as for contributing to the development, improvement and promotion of tourism. Currently, Gold gondola as perhaps the largest tourist attraction in Serbia, which during its first year of operation aroused unprecedented interest and in an extremely difficult year in tourism in general, marked by restrictive epidemiological measures, recorded huge attendance and transported over 200,000 passengers in one year. With its huge popularity, it has become in a very short time a tourist flywheel not only of Zlatibor but of the entire region. On behalf of the PE "Gold Gondola Zlatibor", at the solemn ceremony, the award was received today by the director Bojana Božanić and the executive director Milomir Tucović. The award was presented by the director of the Tourist Organization of Serbia, Marija Labović.

On October 6th, the Gold Gondola hosted a high delegation of the Russian Federation led by Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Yuri Borisov. In addition to a high-ranking official from Russia, the delegation also included the Minister of Innovation and Technological Development Nenad Popovic, as well as the Russian Ambassador to the Republic of Serbia Alexander Bocan Kharchenko. The delegation that will participate in the 19th session of the International Serbian-Russian Committee for Trade, Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation a day later, had the opportunity to see the tourist potential and natural beauties of the Zlatibor district, as well as enjoy the gastronomic specialties of our region. As always, the Zlatibor gondola is an unavoidable attraction during every visit to Zlatibor. With adequate security measures, which we are used to when it comes to visits at this level, the guests from Russia went to the highest peak of Zlatibor - Tornik in the presence of a large number of journalists from all major media in Serbia, who followed this visit with great attention. As a reminder, the Municipality of Cajetina, six years ago, established the first, and for now the only, regional Office for Cooperation with Russia, as a type of service for businessmen from the Zlatibor district for their more organized appearance on the Russian market.

From the cabins of the "Gold Gondola", the longest panoramic cable car in the world, thousands of people are enjoying the most beautiful views of Zlatibor this summer. The extraordinary beauty opens in front of their eyes, the beauty of the undulating plateau, clearings and hills, Ribnica Lake and the highest peak of Zlatibor - Tornik. The project we have been dreaming about so much, working on it for years and finalize it at the end, now makes many people happy and satisfied. And it was not easy for us to realize that idea. The municipality of Cajetina entered this largest investment, worth 13.5 million euros, bravely and decisively, in favor of the development of Zlatibor tourism and the progress of the entire region. Similar determination and steadfastness was required by the realization: from the initial idea in 2008 and entering the preparations, through the procurement of imported equipment and the beginning of works in 2017, all the way to construction temptations in the field and the fight against bureaucracy to obtain building permits. We did not give up on any challenge, nor did we stop in front of any problem - a solution has always been found. We rejoiced as children, very happy with what we achieved, when at the beginning of this year, the "Gold Gondola" was completed and began to transport passengers. Whose interest in driving is still in a high level. High above Zlatibor in one of the 55 cabins of the cable car, in 25 minutes to the top of Tornik and so much more in return. Over the past seven months, the gondola has carried a total of about 160,000 passengers. I must admit that we did not expect that number when we projected the budget and the number of passengers for the first year of operation. We have already doubled the figure that was planned at the beginning of the year. And only seven months have passed. I am proud of such results, but not surprised - even at the beginning of the preparations for the project, we who participated in it secretly believed in this success of the longest panoramic cable car in the world. Indeed, the "Gold Gondola" brought us a new experience, valuable tourist content, but also significant economic benefits. It generated many new investments, attracted numerous tourists from Serbia and abroad (and from distant India, Russian cosmonauts and others), started catering activities ... Zlatibor took a "seven-mile step" on the tourist map of Europe with a gondola. It contributes to the economic development not only of Cajetina and the region of western Serbia, but also of the entire country. Along with several other important projects, which we intend to realize in the next period, the "golden mountain" will achieve an ambitious goal - to have 10 million overnight stays and one million tourists annually. It is on that path: the most valuable pages of its tourism are being printed with an increasing number of visitors and a more comprehensive offer. To this progress, our gondola, a project of national importance, gives the wind in its sails, tirelessly sailing the Zlatibor expanses. And I am grateful to everyone who worked on that great project and believed in it. The text was published in the Electronic Newspaper of Zlatibor, August 2021.

Today, the Gold Gondola hosted the Russian cosmonaut Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and his colleague Anastasia Stepanova, as well as Alyona Kuzmenko, the president of the humanitarian organization "Unity" and her associates. Sergei Kud-Sverchkov spent 185 days on the International Space Station, that he returned from on April 17th. Serbia is the first country he visits after his stay in space. Anastasia Stepanova is a researcher at the Institute for Biomedical Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who is actively preparing for the trip to Mars. This, the first visit of an active Russian cosmonaut to Serbia after 52 years, was organized by the Post of Serbia in order to fulfill the wish of children suffering from cancer. Children from Serbia are organized by the Foundation "Together for Youth - Prof. Dr. Danica Grujicic ", as the authors of 34 works of art, participated in the international program of the State Corporation of the Russian Federation for Space Activities" Roscosmos "and the Russian humanitarian organization "Unity " which provides psychological support to cancer patients. Their dreams, transformed into a space suit, were taken to the International Space Station by Russian cosmonauts. During the gondola ride, the guests from Russia mostly commented on the beauties of Zlatibor's landscapes, and they were impressed by the length of the route, as well as the hospitality and warmth with which they were welcomed and sent off everywhere in Serbia, especially on Zlatibor. They unanimously expressed their desire to come again during the winter and enjoy skiing and the magical winter ambience.