Assistant Minister for Tourism Renata Pindžo said today at the opening of the third meeting of the Group of tourism experts organized in Belgrade by the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) that tourism is a global phenomenon, an important sector in the economy of the countries of South East Europe and one of the most important social activities nowadays.
In this regard, the Government of the Republic of Serbia, as well as many other Governments, has positioned this sector high up in the National Agenda, added Pindžo.
Pindžo pointed out the advantage of South East Europe as a yet undiscovered destination that can provide new, undiscovered lands to tourists.
At a time when every day new destinations are discovered worldwide, our task is to create a joint tourism product through a variety of initiatives. We want to create a regional brand and offer it to Europe and the World. These meetings will be an opportunity to exchange experiences, ideas, and identify the potential of this part of Europe in order to successfully position ourselves in the global market, concluded the Assistant Minister for Tourism.
During the two-day meetings, the representatives of South East Europe will discuss the important role of tourism and its share in the gross national income, ways to overcome the obstacles that the sector faces every day as well as regional cooperation, which will result in the creation of a joint tourism product.
In addition to the Republic of Serbia, the meeting in Belgrade was attended by delegations from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo (as an observer in accordance with UN Resolution 12/44), as well as representatives of international organizations (CEFTA, USAID, DCC, UNESCO).
The third meeting of the Group of tourism experts will be an opportunity to present examples of good practices in investment in human resources through education and training of tourism workers as one of the prerequisites for tourism development. Also, the Action Plan for the promotion of cultural and heritage tourism in South Eastern Europe will be presented.
In addition to the initiatives of the OECD to bring together the countries of South East Europe in creating a joint tourism product and a joint tourist offer, the Belgrade Meeting held last December, supported the regional cooperation of all 16 countries of Central and Eastern Europe as the key to a common entrance to distant markets.
The third meeting of the Group of tourism experts in South East Europe in Belgrade was preceded by meetings in Dubrovnik and Paris in 2014.
