Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia and the Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajić has stated early today that the Danube will be the point where Serbia is going to build, inter alia, the strategy of tourism development, stating the activity of granting the holiday vouchers in Serbia has given good results, and that efforts will be made to attract tourists from China, Korea, Japan, USA, Russia and Iran.
Mr Ljajić has said to the RTS that, during his two-year-term, six new ports have been built on the Danube which, as he has assessed, is a great potential.
Minister has also stated that administrative procedures are still ongoing, at the level of local self-governments, in order to make those harbours, the so called corridor seven, obtain the relevant licenses from the Port Governance Agency, and that the Ministry has allocated full funds for their construction.
According to the data of the Ministry, in the first seven months Serbia has been visited by 1.5 million tourists, out of whom 45 per cent are foreign tourists, which is by 15 per cent higher than is the same period last year.
Mr Ljajić says that the increase in domestic tourists is solely the result of the action with the vouchers, which is perfectly organised and which will be continued next year as well.
“We have granted all the vouchers, even though it was initially planned that citizens could apply until October 15, we had to stop it now since we had spent all the vouchers even a month ago”, says Mr Ljajić, who is a Deputy Prime Minister.
According to his words, 50 per cent of foreign tourist coming to Serbia visit Belgrade, so additional efforts must be made to promote the tourist offer.
As for Belgrade, Mr Ljajić says that Sava Centre must be finished first, in order to encourage the congress tourism our capital was famous for in the past.
“Business congress tourists spend in average around 300€ a day, and the average tourist spends 60-70€. We have to give our best to find the funds to renew the Sava Centre”, says Mr Ljajić, adding that it is necessary to bring investors who will invest in an amusement park here in Belgrade.
After Belgrade, as Mr Ljajić says, the second and third attractions are mountains and spa centres as tourist attractions brining the most revenues.
As for the mountains, he states that corridors 10 and 11 have to be finished, airports in Lađevci in Kraljevo and Ponikve in Užice have to be reconstructed, and the airport in Niš has to be additionally reactivated to attract new low-cost companies.
The largest number of tourists visiting Serbia, as he says, come from the countries in the region, and also from Turkey and Greece, and as for the EU countries there are also tourists from Italy and Germany, and from Russia as well.
“We have to try to attract tourists from China, Korea, Japan, even USA, and when it comes to Russia, we are planning to conduct a campaign. Iran is a market we can count on in the next period. A better, quality and even more aggressive promotion will contribute to bringing tourists from a bigger number of countries”, says Mr Ljajić.
