Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajić has said for the paper Večernje novosti , that due to enormous interest of citizens in vouchers by which the government co-finances holidays in Serbia, it is decided to ensure additional 20.000 vouchers, for which additional 100 million dinars have been allocated.

“Out of planned 60.000 vouchers, 52.000 have already been given out. In six months we have given out the vouchers we planned to give out for entire year, so we are more than happy. We have allocated additional 100 million dinars in order to make this action go on in June. Now we will have additional 20.000 vouchers. These incentives should not be taken as a gift, but a real investment for the country. In average, everyone using a voucher has 7.4 night stays, even though the minimum is five night stays”, Mr Ljajić has said.

Since the interest is this big, this year we are going to realise twice as many vouchers than last year, when we had 46.000.

Minister has also said that there is a higher interest in holidays without night stays since people stay longer and the season is extended, and many destinations became livelier thanks to this measure, especially spa centres.

“Vouchers will influence the investments in infrastructure, so there is a multiple benefit. Not only material but also the total activity when it comes to development of tourism is higher”, concluded Deputy PM.

According to the number of applications, the most wanted destinations are spas, Prolom, Vrnjačka, Lukovksa and Koviljača spa, and mountains Zlatibor and Kopaonik.

In order to be eligible for a voucher, among other things, it is necessary to make a reservation of minimum five nights in registered private or hotel accommodation which is registered in the list of facilities where vouchers can be used.

By October 15, which is the final deadline, we expect 80.000 vouchers to be used and to have more than 500.000 night stays, when we talk about