Herzegovina-Neretva Canton
Herzegovina-Neretva's UNESCO Mostar bridge anchors 1.5 million annual visitors while Međugorje pilgrimage and Neretva rafting diversify tourism beyond heritage.
Herzegovina-Neretva Canton generates Bosnia-Herzegovina's most successful tourism economy through UNESCO heritage, religious pilgrimage, and Mediterranean climate. Mostar's reconstructed Stari Most (Old Bridge), destroyed in 1993 and rebuilt in 2004, became UNESCO's first World Heritage site in Bosnia-Herzegovina—a keystone attraction that draws 1.5 million annual visitors whose spending ripples through hotels, restaurants, and craft shops.
The canton demonstrates how heritage can structure regional economies. Međugorje's Catholic pilgrimage site (where apparitions were reported in 1981) attracts believers regardless of formal Vatican recognition, creating hospitality infrastructure that extends beyond religious tourism. The Neretva River enables adventure tourism (rafting, kayaking) while hydroelectric dams on its tributaries generate electricity that the canton exports. Neum, Bosnia's only coastal access (24 km of Adriatic shoreline), provides beach tourism that Croatian alternatives otherwise monopolize.
Manufacturing complements tourism. The Aluminij smelter in Mostar represents heavy industry unusual for a tourism canton, though energy costs challenge competitiveness. Igman defense industry (Konjic) exports military equipment. The September 2025 cooperation agreement with Croatia's Varaždin County signals recognition that Herzegovina's economy integrates with Croatian Dalmatia as much as with Sarajevo.