The revenue from tourism in Serbia last year totaled 2.5 billion USD, and the foreign exchange inflow from foreign tourists alone was 800 million euros.

This demonstrates the vitality of tourism despite the economic crisis, said today the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of the Republic of Serbia Rasim Ljajić.

Speaking at a business conference entitled “Sustainable Development and Competitiveness of Tourism in Southeast Europe – SEET 2014” Ljajić recalled that Serbia’s foreign exchange revenue from tourism in 2000 was merely 20 million USD, which means that it increased 50-fold in 15 years.

The Minister pointed out that, by comparison, last year the export of agricultural products amounted to 2.1 billion euros, while the exports of the automotive industry amounted to 1.8 billion euros, and that those industries, unlike tourism, received or are receiving subsidies.

He added that this year’s budget for tourism is 13 million euros, and that the relevant ministry intends to take a series of steps in order to increase tourism revenue.

According to him, it is not in our favor that we are ranked 89 out of 140 countries in terms of tourism competitiveness according to last year’s rankings of the World Economic Forum.

He noted that, in the future, Serbia needs to position its tourism industry not only as an industry that achieves steady growth, but as the industry that has the most positive spillover effects on other industries.

“Tourism is not an expense, but an investment, an asset, it is a revenue for the state and budget, and something that encourages economic activity across the country,” said Ljajić.

According to him, it is necessary to encourage the development of the private sector, and especially public-private partnerships, and to promote and develop tourism clusters.

The Minister believes that the current strategy for tourism development largely remained a “dead letter” because like many other it was too ambitiously formulated.

“We have about 200 strategies in different areas and we are brilliant in writing something that sounds ideal, but means nothing. We should draft the strategy based on real facts, potential and indicators and not make it a wish list,” said Ljajić.

He said that one of the first steps will be the establishment of a National Council for Sustainable Development and Tourism and that one of the priorities of tourism development will be regional cooperation.

Professor Slobodan Unković pointed out that tourism found its way out of the economic crisis in 2010, although other industries still suffer from that crisis. He added that tourism has been growing by 3-5 percent annually throughout the world since 2010, which indicates that its growth is sustainable.

According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO), the tourism industry is expected to grow by 4-5 percent globally this year as well, added Unković.