Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajić opened the reconstructed children’s resort Golija today. The renovation was financed by the Ministry.
Visiting the renovated children’s resort Golija on Zlatibor, Ljajić said it is one of the last projects financed by the Ministry, yet it was completed among the first.
“Due to excellent cooperation, the facility was reconstructed in record time, and this is the model of cooperation we want to have. The cooperation of the municipality of Čajetina and the city of Užice with the Ministry and the management of the Golija resort resulted in this project, or more precisely, the first phase of this project, being completed and finalized so rapidly”, noted the Minister.
The Minister announced that the distribution of vouchers to support domestic tourism will be continued after 1 January of next year, and the number of those entitled to their use will be expanded.
“This is primarily in regards to foreign pensioners, i.e. our citizens receiving foreign pensions, as well as unregistered agricultural households”, he elaborated, and added he expects 45 to 50 thousand beneficiaries for this year’s vouchers.
“Since we had a more than successful year in regards to the use of vouchers, with 14,000 used in three and a half months, I expect this year’s plan to be achieved”, noted Ljajić, visiting the reconstructed children’s resort Golija on Zlatibor.
He reminded that there is RSD 230 million in the new budget allotted for vouchers for the stimulation of domestic tourism.
According to him, of particular importance is that next year, for the first time, stimulation will be provided for organized visits by foreign tourists.
He noted that this will represent the first time the long-standing request by domestic tourist agencies is adopted, as well as that these stimulations are only in regards to domestic tourist agencies in order to improve receptive tourism, i.e. bringing foreign tourists to Serbia.
The Minister also added that the budget for next year provides RSD 640 million for various infrastructure projects in the field of tourism.
A total of RSD 570 million was spent for this purpose in 2015, said Ljajić and invited all local self-governments and tourist organizations to prepare projects in a timely manner in order to be able to start the implementation of works in time.
“This year we have appealed to local self-governments ten times to submit the relevant documentation on time, in order to start project implementation”, noted Ljajić during the visit to the reconstructed children’s resort Golija on Zlatibor.
The Minister said that during the first ten months Zlatibor was the most visited mountain in Serbia, visited by 128,000 tourists.
“Compared to the same period last year, we have had 31 percent more tourists, with 41 percent foreigners, i.e. Zlatibor was visited by around 30,000 foreign tourists, and we expect this number to increase”, said the Deputy Prime Minister.
According to him, this year was more than successful in regards to tourism, because we have sustained the trend of increase in the number of domestic and foreign tourists.
“For the first time after seven years we have an increase in the number of domestic tourists, which is encouraging, and I hope next year will be even more successful than 2015 was”, concluded the Minister.
He reminded that investments were made on Zlatibor regarding the construction of an adventure park, i.e. a zipline, using funds of the Ministry of Tourism. He also reminded of the plans to complete the construction of the enclosed section of the pool within the Golija resourt, aiming to stimulate the development of children’s and youth tourism.
“I hope another artificial grass court will be built here in two years, in order for younger categories of footballers to be able to come for preparations. Year after year we are completing, not just the sports, but also the tourist offer, and I believe Zlatibor will break all these records regarding tourists. Next year is optimistic in this regard,” he emphasized.
