State Secretary in the Ministry of Trade, Tourism, and Telecommunications Miroslav Knežević has announced early today the establishment of two new regional travel organisations by the end of the year, which is a step towards the development of destination management model.

“Apart from the existing three regional travel organisations, we are establishing the travel organisation of the Kopaonik region, and expect to establish RTO Podrinje and RTO South-East Serbia by the end of this year”, says Mr Knežević in the panel “Improving the travel destination management systems in Serbia” held at the Singidunum University.

Mr Knežević has said that the Strategy for Tourism Development in Serbia 2016-2025 precisely defines the destinations having the potential for further development.

He has stated that a destination is not the same as a local self-government, and that a joint work of local self-government units is important in order to increase the competitiveness of certain destinations.

“The future is in associations and mutual connection. Only with the joint presentations can we deal with the contemporary requirements of the market and achieve the efficient operation”, Mr Knežević has underlined.

In the panel there were talks about the needs for system changes and frames for functioning of travel organisations in Serbia, and the establishment of organisations for touristic destination management. Also, the discussion also covered the manner of functioning of touristic organisations on the national, regional, and local level influenced by moderns information technologies.