Assistant Minister for Tourism Renata Pindžo has stated for the Večernje novosti that so far there have been 63.000 applications for vouchers for holiday in Serbia and, even though the budget initially planned 80.000 vouchers, due to a great interest the big chances are that this number will reach 100.000 applications, like last year.
“Now it is the the peak season for applying for the vouchers and we are getting a large number of them. We plan to reach the last year’s level, when we distributed 100.000 vouchers, but we have to take care of the budget, and the available capacities as well.
It is still early to talk if the number will exceed the last year’s one. There is also one technical thing, i.e. whoever applies, they have to do it at least a month before they go on holiday, so now in May, we give reservations for June and the first half of July”, says Assistant Minister.
According to her works, the most wanted destinations are Prlolom spa, Zlatibor, Sokobanja, Kopaonik, Gornja Trepča, and Banja Koviljača. A big interest are touristic facilities in which the vouchers, in the value of RSD 5.000, can be used.
To that end, says Mrs Pindžo, it is important that the government settles its obligations on time, so there were no delays or problems. “At this point we have 1.107 facilities where the vouchers can be used, and last year there were 938”, says Mrs Pindžo, adding that the number is constantly growing, and the caterers are left with the ability to register throughout the year.
Mrs Pindžo underlines that the largest number of touristic facilities are located in the most developed sites where the accommodation is most wanted.
“The voucher action has greatly contributed to that, at least in those towns, to leave the “grey” zone. Now they are categorised and work in line with the law. They register their guests and pay the residence fee, which is not a thing to be neglected. We also have destinations in which the number of guests has increased for several times, which is not only a physical growth, but it was achieved by the compulsory registration”, says Mrs Pindžo.
When it comes to the conditions for getting the vouchers or, more precisely, whether other population categories will be included, the Assistant Minister says that it is not possible to cover all the population categories since the vouchers are not a social measure, but rather a stimulation. “We need to rely on those categories which status can be easily evaluated”, concluded Mrs Pindžo.
