From Long Beach in Ulcinj at the beginning of July to the grand finale of Sea Dance Festival on Bečići Beach over the final weekend of August, 144,000 people passed through the gates of EXIT’s two festival editions in Montenegro this summer. The EXIT to Montenegro story began two months earlier in Ulcinj, bringing a strong tourism and promotional boost at the start of July, during the period locally known as the “July lull”, while Sea Dance brought August to a triumphant close in Budva, which tourism officials said was as busy as during the height of the season. Across both editions, 122 local artists shared the stage with some of the world’s leading stars. One of the most striking images of the entire project was the monumental 12-metre sculpture “Ivana”, a testament to love and a tribute to the feminine principle and the protection of nature. In Ulcinj, it carried the message “STUDENTS WILL WIN”, which also appeared on the Main Stage in Budva, recalling the rebellion, youth and freedom from which EXIT itself was born. EXIT’s Montenegro story also took on a strong humanitarian dimension through the “United for Kids” initiative, supporting the construction of a rehabilitation house on Durmitor for children recovering from cancer treatment, as well as the Day Centre for children and young people with disabilities.
The recently concluded EXIT’s Sea Dance Festival drew 93,000 people to Bečići Beach over three festival nights, with visitors from more than 100 countries across six continents. The largest groups of international visitors came from countries across the region, Germany, the UK, Turkey, Italy, Poland, France, the United States and many other parts of the world.
Leading the bill were HUGEL, one of today’s hottest hitmakers, Belgian techno queen Charlotte de Witte, reigning Eurovision winner DARA, British superstar John Newman and crowd favourite Boris Brejcha. They were joined over the three festival nights by Enrico Sangiuliano, Burak Yeter, RPR Soundsystem, Marcel Dettmann, BIIA, Layla Benitez, Mita Gami and many other international and regional acts.
Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić said EXIT’s arrival represented an opportunity for Montenegro to further showcase its potential on the international stage.
“EXIT is not just about bringing a major festival to Montenegro. It is an opportunity for the country to showcase its full potential, energy and openness – a confirmation that Montenegro is taking centre stage in the region and attracting attention from around the world,” Spajić said following the Sea Dance Festival in Budva.
Over the final weekend of August, Budva recorded visitor levels typical of the height of the tourist season, according to indicators from local services. The number of registered guests, water consumption, the volume of municipal waste and other parameters all pointed to exceptionally high visitor numbers, with the Budva Tourism Organisation identifying Sea Dance as one of the key reasons behind the city’s late-season surge.
“By all relevant indicators, Budva is currently seeing visitor numbers typical of the very peak of the tourist season. This is confirmed not only by official figures for registered guests, but also by water consumption, municipal waste volumes and other parameters that provide a more accurate picture of the total number of people staying in the city. A key contributor to this is EXIT’s Sea Dance Festival, which attracted an exceptionally large number of visitors from around the world at the end of the season,” said Milan Tičić, Director of the Budva Tourism Organisation.
EXIT’s first Montenegro chapter of the year brought a major three-night event precisely during the part of the season that the tourism sector has for decades identified as the problematic “July lull”. During those days, Long Beach combined music, the sea, daytime programmes, kitesurfing and nighttime festival production, with a large number of international, regional and local artists.
The Director of the Ulcinj Tourism Organisation, Ćazim Hodžić, said the tourism board was satisfied with both the organisation and the results of this year’s EXIT festival, held in Ulcinj for the first time. He said EXIT attracted a large number of visitors and further positioned the city as an attractive destination for major international events.
“We are particularly pleased that the organisers, artists and visitors all expressed satisfaction with the overall setting, location and organisation of the event. The venue proved extremely well suited to a festival of this scale, and the positive reactions confirm that Ulcinj has the capacity to host major music and tourism events. The festival attracted a large number of visitors and gave the city strong international exposure. We believe the success of this year’s edition will be a strong recommendation for similar events in the years ahead, further enriching the city’s tourism offer and helping extend the season.”
Summing up the results of this year’s EXIT to Montenegro project, founder and CEO of EXIT Festival Group Dušan Kovačević highlighted its importance for tourism, the international promotion of Montenegro, the local scene and the wider community:
“When we launched EXIT to Montenegro, the idea was to give the season an extra boost through major international events precisely when it was needed most, and to send an image of Montenegro out into the world as an attractive and modern destination. All the indicators show that we fully achieved that, and I am especially proud that, alongside major international names, 122 Montenegrin artists performed across the two festivals. That is perhaps the best picture of what we want to build: events that bring tourists and international promotion to Montenegro, while at the same time giving the local scene space to present itself to an international audience. The ‘United for Kids’ initiative also showed the other, and for us even more important, side of the story – that what we create through music should leave something of value behind even after the stage lights go out,” Kovačević said.
More Than a Festival: Local Artists, Monumental Sculpture and Humanitarian Mission
One of the standout achievements of this year’s project was the space it created for Montenegro’s local scene. Exactly 100 local artists performed at Sea Dance, while the two EXIT editions together featured 122 artists from Montenegro. An important part of that story was the EXIT to Montenegro open call created specifically for artists and creatives from Montenegro, through which performers of different generations and genres made it onto the festival stages. That was one of the project’s ideas from the very beginning: alongside a strong, current international programme, to open the festival stages to what is genuinely being played, produced and created in Montenegro today.
Another motif linked Ulcinj and Bečići. The monumental 12-metre sculpture “Ivana” formed a central part of the scenography at Long Beach before making its way to Bečići. Its light projections and spectacular 3D mapping effects were seen around the world, making it one of the most recognisable images from both events.
The sculpture is dedicated to Ivana Kovačević, a mother of three, wife of EXIT founder Dušan Kovačević and one of the most important members of the EXIT team, who passed away last year after battling a serious illness. Although conceived as a deeply personal and emotional tribute, it also highlighted the importance of protecting nature, particularly Long Beach, one of the most important coastal areas in this part of Europe.
The festival summer also had a humanitarian dimension. The “United for Kids” evening was held in Sveti Stefan to support the construction of a rehabilitation house on Durmitor for children recovering from cancer treatment, as well as the Day Centre for children and young people with disabilities. A special moment of the evening was an intimate performance by British superstar John Newman, who supported the humanitarian mission in this way.
The Message That Ran Through EXIT’s Summer
Alongside the music, tourism impact and major platform for the local scene, both editions also carried the message “STUDENTS WILL WIN”, linked to the student movement in Serbia that emerged after the collapse of the canopy at Novi Sad railway station in November 2024, in which 16 people were killed.
EXIT publicly supported the students, which carries particular significance given that the festival itself was founded in 2000 out of a student movement for peace, democracy and social change. Its support for a new generation of students led to growing political and security pressure and the decision for the festival to leave its long-time home in Novi Sad.
Leading international trade publications, US-based Pollstar and the UK’s IQ Magazine, reported on pressure against artists and parts of the music industry that supported the protests, citing accounts of cancelled concerts, “blacklists” and an unprecedentedly difficult situation for culture in Serbia.
After a summer that connected Ulcinj and Budva, EXIT continues its international journey. The next stop on its world tour will be Egypt, where the region’s largest festival brand has been given the honour of organising the first full-scale festival in front of the magnificent Pyramids of Giza.
