U Serbia in the first half of the year, around 3,2 million foreign overnight stays were registered tourist, which is almost seven percent more than in the same period last year.
When they come, foreigners do not only visit Belgrade and Novi Sad, where they live Novak Đoković i Nikola Jokic, why the dinar is called that and how fast the Danube flows - these are the most common questions for tourist guides, writes RTS.
Homemade coffee, ratluk and brandy. This is how a foreign tourist starts his day in Serbia - to feel like a local, at least for one day, he says.
Nenad Blagojević, a tourist guide, points out that Serbia is landlocked, but has beautiful lakes, national parks and monasteries.
"I think that the tourist who travels here does not want an exotic experience, he wants to see what is authentic, a country at the crossroads between East and West and what they see in the movies," says Blagojević.
Change of mind
Perhaps precisely because it is not in the movies, and we have a good reputation for being good hosts, the interest is greater.
Blagojević adds that tourists come with a lot of prejudices, because they watch television in their country and remember the unpleasant situations we had thirty years ago and the wars.
"He comes with one image. But when he comes here, he changes his mind," explains Blagojević.
Most of the visits are to Belgrade and Novi Sad, primarily for work. Those in the know say that during the visit they discover that Serbia has much more to offer, that is why it is important, the guides note, to enrich the tourist facilities, so that foreigners would want to stay longer than the extended weekend, and even come back again.
The greatest potential in a holiday in the countryside
Ljubiša Nešovanović, a representative of the travel agency, says that what is most sought after by foreign tourists is the stretch of Western Serbia, Tara, Užice and on to Montenegro.
"Because foreign tourists choose to visit several cities, rather than stay in one place," says Nešovanović.
Three years ago, the state subsidized rural tourist households with grants of 2,9 million dinars per household, because the greatest potential is in vacations in the countryside. Before that regulation, there were about 700 categorized households, today there are almost 1.000 of them.
Višnja Rakić, Assistant Minister of Tourism, states that local self-government units, i.e. tourism organizations of local self-government units, should deal with promoting what they have.
"If they give us ideas, we have them, but if we say that they exist on a micro level, so to speak, then they are the ones who will develop tourism in their locality," Rakić points out.
Source: RTS
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