Tourism in Serbia

Tourism in Serbia is officially recognised as a primary area for economic and social growth.[1] The hotel and catering sector accounted for approximately 2.2% of GDP in 2015.[2] Tourism in Serbia employs some 75,000 people, about 3% of the country's workforce.[1] In recent years the number of tourists is increasing, especially foreign ones for about hundred thousand arrivals more each year. Major destinations for foreign tourists are Belgrade and Novi Sad, while domestic tourists prefer spas and mountain resorts.[3]

Tourism in Serbia
Map of Serbia
Time zone	UTC+1 (Central European Time)
Area code(s)	+ 381
Website	Official Tourist webpage

History

Early roots of tourism in Serbia can be traced to the 19th century, with kings and other rulers opening spas and other newly formed tourist spots.[4][5] In the 1980s Yugoslavia was an important tourist destination in the Balkans. Overnight stays were almost 12 million per year, of which about 1.5 million were by foreign tourists. The events surrounding the break-up of Yugoslavia led to a substantial decline in both leisure and business tourism.[6]

In the twenty-first century tourism began to recover: the number of overseas visitors was 90% higher in 2004 than it had been in 2000, and revenue from foreign tourism more than tripled between 2002 and 2004, to about 220 million US dollars.[6] By 2010 revenue from international tourism had grown to 798 million US dollars.

Internationally known annual events

Name	Location	Month	Type of Festival
Küstendorf Film and Music Festival	Drvengrad	January	Film and Music Festival
Gitarijada	Zaječar	June	Rock and Roll Music Festival
Palić European Film Festival	Palić	July	European Film festival
EXIT Festival	Novi Sad	July	Electronic Music Festival
Guča Trumpet Festival	Guča	August	Brass Band Festival
Nišville	Niš	August	Jazz Music Festival
Lovefest	Vrnjačka Banja	August	Electronic Music Festival
Beer Days	Zrenjanin	August	Beer Festival
Leskovac Grill Festival	Leskovac	September	Grilled Meat Festival

Statistics

Arrivals per year Year Arrivals Domestic Foreign 2003[7] 1,997,947 1,658,664 339,283 2004[8] 1,971,683 1,579,857 391,826 2005[9] 1,988,469 1,535,790 452,679 2006[10] 2,006,488 1,537,646 468,842 2007[11] 2,306,558 1,610,513 696,045 2008[12] 2,266,166 1,619,672 646,494 2009[13] 2,021,166 1,375,865 645,301 2010 2,000,597 1,317,916 682,681 2011 2,068,610 1,304,443 764,167 2012 2,079,643 1,269,676 809,967 2013 2,192,435 1,270,667 921,768 2014[14] 2,194,268 1,165,536 1,028,732 2015[15] 2,437,165 1,304,944 1,132,221 2016[16] 2,753,591 1,472,165 1,281,426 2017 [17] 3,085,866 1,588,693 1,497,173 2018[18] 3,430,522 1,720,008 1,710,514 2019[19] 3,689,983 1,843,432 1,846,551 2020[20] 780,785 515,164 265,621

Arrivals by country 2020[20] 2019[19] # Country Arrivals Country Arrivals 1 Bosnia and Herzegovina 24,680 China incl. Hong Kong 144,961 2 Bulgaria 21,468 Bosnia and Herzegovina 136,184 3 Croatia 20,829 Turkey 107,695 4 Montenegro 17,061 Germany 104,144 5 North Macedonia 15,619 Croatia 103,807 6 Romania 14,356 Bulgaria 100,344 7 China incl. Hong Kong 14,294 Montenegro 90,442 8 Germany 12,986 Slovenia 89,930 9 Russia 11,593 Romania 83,027 10 Slovenia 11,125 Greece 74,974 11 Greece 11,109 North Macedonia 72,760 12 Turkey 10,849 Russia 64,103 13 Italy 7,570 Poland 55,844 14 Hungary 6,405 Italy 52,723 15 Austria 5,336 Hungary 48,008 Total international visitors 265,621 Total international visitors 1,846,551

See also

• Visa policy of Serbia
• Tourism in Vojvodina
• Architecture of Serbia

References

1. Serbia Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, in: Alain Dupeyras (ed.) (2012). OECD tourism trends and policies 2012. Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development. ISBN 9789264177567. p. 403–407.doi:10.1787/tour-2012-56-en
2. https://mtt.gov.rs/download/3/STRATEGIJA%20RAZVOJA%20TURIZMA%20RS%20%202016-2025.pdf
3. "Туризам и угоститељство (Tourism and catering trade)" (PDF). 2017-10-19. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-10-24. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
4. Mitchell, Laurence (2013). Serbia. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 307. ISBN 978-1-84162-463-1.
5. "Краљевске бање Србије". Politika Online. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
6. Marat Terterov (ed.) (2006). Doing business with Serbia Archived 2016-02-05 at the Wayback Machine, second edition. London: GMB Publishing. ISBN 978-1-905050-14-7. p.177.
7. "2003 статистика". srbija.travel. Archived from the original on 2014-08-13. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
8. "2004 стастика". srbija.travel. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
9. "2005 статистика". srbija.travel. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
10. "2006 статистика". srbija.travel. Archived from the original on 2014-01-09. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
11. "2007 статистика". srbija.travel. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
12. "2008 статистика". srbija.travel. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
13. "2009-2013 статистика" (PDF). srbija.travel. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
14. "2014 статистика" (PDF). srbija.travel. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 September 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
15. "Републички завод за статистику – Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Serbia – Tourism, 2015" (PDF). 2015-10-05. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-03-29. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
16. "Туристички промет - децембар 2016 (2016 statistics)" (PDF). 2017-01-26. ISSN 0353-9555. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-04-03. Retrieved 2017-12-10.
17. "Туристички промет - децембар 2017. (2017 statistics)" (PDF). 2017-12-29. ISSN 0353-9555. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-01-31. Retrieved 2017-12-29.
18. "Office of the Republic of Serbia, data for 2018" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-04-04.
19. "Office of the Republic of Serbia, data for 2019" (PDF).
20. "Office of the Republic of Serbia, data for first six months 2020" (PDF).

Further reading

• Ana Nikolov (29 July 2005). "Beograd – grad na rekama". Institut za Arhitekturu i Urbanizam Srbije. Retrieved 2007-06-05. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• "Zbogom, oazo!" (in Serbian). Kurir. 23 May 2006. Retrieved 2007-06-05.
• Beoinfo (4 August 2005). "Prirodno dobro "Veliko ratno ostrvo" stavljeno pod zaštitu Skupštine grada" (in Serbian). Ekoforum. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 2007-06-05.
• Eve-Ann Prentice (10 August 2003). "Why I love battereBelgrade". The Guardian Travel. London. Archived from the original on 15 May 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-19.
• Seth Sherwood (16 October 2005). "Belgrade Rocks". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-05-19.
• Barbara Gruber (22 August 2006). "Belgrade's Nightlife Floats on the Danube". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 2007-05-19.
• "Slovenci dolaze u jeftin provod" (in Serbian). Glas Javnosti. 21 December 2004. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
• "U Beograd na vikend-zabavu" (in Croatian). Večernji list. 6 January 2006. Retrieved 2007-06-15. Alt URL
• Dulovic, Vladimir (1 February 2013). "The Oldest Houses In Belgrade". Livinginbelgrade.com.
• "Znamenite građevine 3" (in Serbian). Official site. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
• Scurlock, Gareth (4 November 2008). "Europe's best nightlife". London: Official site. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
• "The world's top 10 party towns". The Sydney Morning Herald. 9 November 2009. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
• "Exit Festival Official Websiyr". Archived from the original on 2012-02-10.

External links

• National Tourism Organization of Serbia
• Media related to Tourism in Serbia at Wikimedia Commons