Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunication, Mr Rasim Ljajic has visited today the Selters spa in Mladenovac, where 30 million dinars have been allocated to the construction of the outdoor swimming pool and the related attractions.

Mr Ljajic has said that the process of modernisation and restructuring of spas is to begin in order to revitalise the dead capital and create a new value for the spas in terms of the increase of the total tourist turnover.

“We have some unsolved property legal relations, unsolved status in many spas. There is no other solution. Through the development of the tourist infrastructure we tend to help as much as we can to all those spas having resources and potential for further development”, Minister has said.

He has stated that the last and this year the Ministry has allocated 30 million dinars for the construction of the outdoor swimming pool in Selters spa.

As he has said, we have to enrich the attractions and spas, and the offer as well if we want to attract a larger number of domestic and foreign tourists.

He has said that the spas had in average 82 per cent of domestic and 18 per cent of foreign tourists last year.

It is an insignificantly small number having in mind that we have great natural potential in the spa tourism, but for years there have been no investments in spas, Mr Ljajic has stated.

The Selters spa has a great potential since it is close to Belgrade, near the highway, near the airport but requires a lot of investment, the Minister has stated adding that the spa tourism as a resource must be fully operational, which also includes the public-private-partnership and larger investment of the government, primarily in the construction of roads and other infrastructure, and new investment in the private sector.

“Without that, for years ahead, we will be talking about our best spas, best water springs but in vain since talk is cheap. We have to use those resources and potentials, those mineral waters to create a value, to make money which we will further invest in the development of the infrastructure”, Mr Ljajic has stressed.

As he has stated, the guests who visit the Selters spa depending on the nature of their disease stay there for 25 days or more.

“In other spas our guests spend four days, foreign guests even less. In order to make the guests stay longer, especially the foreign guests, you have to offer them new attractions. You can’t spend 24 hours in a room, or on balcony, and that means we must give our best to enrich this tourist infrastructure and enrich our offer with new attractions”, Minister has stated.

He has added that it includes additional allocations for the development of those attractions, sports fields, and pedestrian lanes around the spa.

“First we have to encourage local self-governments and then we as the Government will do everything we can to help as much as we can and invest in enrichment of those tourist attractions”, Mr Ljajic has said.