The Belgrade Manifesto, the first festival of events, destinations and tasting, was opened on Friday by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajić, who said that he expects the festival to help boost the number of tourists in Serbia.

We expect that foreign exchange inflow this year will be higher than $ 1.3 billion, while the expected increase in the number of tourists is 10 percent. Serbia is one of the few countries in Europe which recorded a double growth in the number of foreign tourists last year, said Ljajić at the opening.

The event is a preview of everything that will be going on in Serbia during the tourism season, representing the tourism potential of many cities in Serbia, said Ljajić.

The minister said that the country has around 1,700 events, which are attended by hundreds of thousands of people, bringing major revenues to local self-government authorities.

At the festival, which ends on May 24, the upper and lower sections of the Belgrade Fortress will host more than 50 Serbian cities and municipalities in 15 festival programs.