The “My Serbia” campaign provided excellent results, and the voucher initiative will continue as of 1 January next year and last throughout the year, announced Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajić.
Speaking at a press conference at the Tourist Organization of Serbia presenting the promotional winter campaign “Winter is Good for Everyone”, he said that the “My Serbia” campaign produced an increase in the number of domestic and foreign tourists of 12 percent, an increase in overnight stays of nine percent, as well as an increase in foreign currency inflow.
“The campaign “My Serbia” produced better than good results, 14,000 people used vouchers, a total of 118,000 overnight stays were realized, on average 8.5 nights per user. Since this was a pilot project, with a duration of approximately three and a half months, we have to be more than satisfied”, said Ljajić.
He stated that domestic tourists mostly visited Vrnjačka Banja, Belgrade, and Zlatibor, while foreign tourists mostly came to Belgrade, Novi Sad and to Zlatibor, followed by Vrnjačka Banja.
“The countries where most of the tourists come from are – first of all Bosnia and Herzegovina, then Turkey, Montenegro, Germany, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation”, said Minister Ljajić and noted that Serbia will certainly have a successful tourist year regarding the number of foreign and domestic tourists.
Ljajić noted that a tourism development strategy and 10 rulebooks in accordance with the Law on Tourism will be adopted by the end of the year and early next year.
“The most important for our citizens is the Rulebook on the Guarantee of Travel, we want to end fraud among certain tourist agencies, we do not want to keep talking about this issue every season”, said Ljajić and noted that the amounts of insurance and guarantees will be increased, stating that the minimum bank guarantee for a travel agency will be EUR 300,000.
“Every traveller will receive insurance certificates to know who provided the guarantee, every trip will be insured separately, we have reduced the possibility of fraud to a minimum”, noted Ljajić.
The Director of the Tourist Organization of Serbia Gordana Plamenac said her organization, along with the Ski Resorts of Serbia, the Spas Association and the Association of the Hotel-Restaurant Industry, is moving ahead with a campaign of promoting mountain resorts this year, with a different theme and message, and expanding it with an invitation to spend winter vacations in spas and holidays in towns.
“The campaign “Winter is Good for Everyone” will be implemented through several media channels – TV, radio, ambient promotion, billboards, in Serbia and countries in the region. These are steps initiated on 15 November and to be successively continued until the end of December”, said Plamenac.
She is certain that the new campaign will produce a positive result and added that “My Serbia” is to continue, and will be implemented during next year.
The Vice-President of the Business Association of Hotel and Restaurant Industry HORES Aleksandar Vasilijević noted that this season has been the most successful one in the last 10 years, and that the winter centres of Kopaonik, Zlatibor and Stara Planina achieved an increase between 10 and 100 percent.
The Director of the Ski Resorts of Serbia Dejan Ljevnaić said that the “My Serbia” campaign produced an excellent and visible result, providing for the most successful summer season ever and the greatest success with 4,000 rides in just one day.
“We have also been preparing for the winter season, Kopaonik, Tornik, Stara Planina will provide the best service with European quality, the tracks are prepared, with state-of-the-art machinery, last season there were over 240,000 skiers, and now we have before us the great task of being even better, said Ljevnaić.
The Secretary of the Serbian Spas Association Vladan Vešković said that Serbian spas were always at the top regarding tourist turnover in Serbia and domestic guests. This year, he noted, there was a double-digit percentage of foreign tourists in spas during the first nine months.
“This shows that at last we managed to bring the conditions to a satisfactory level, and spas have nearly 30 percent more arrivals by foreigners. We believe the vouchers have also increased turnover in spas”, said Vešković.
