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605 Development of Ecotourism in Serbia

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605 Development of Ecotourism in Serbia DEVELOPMENT OF ECOTOURISM IN SERBIA: THE IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIC FARMS1 Isidora Ljumović2; Ivana Lečovski 3; Abstract Ecotourism is extremely popular trend worldwide, but it is also important factor of sustainable development, necessary in all areas of human activity, including tourism. The organic ecotourism provides services based on sustainable development, with the emphasis on sustainable agriculture, conservation of ecosystems and natural resources, alternative energy sources, healthy nutrition and tradition preservation. Serbia has enormous potential in ecotourism due to the large number of protected resources, natural areas, parks and reserves, monuments and a large number of protected plant and animal species. Organic farms as active participants in ecotourism activities also include segments of food and wine tourism, offering a completely new experience with the possibility of active rest, education and awareness in terms of ecology and sustainability. The results of this research show that there is an evident potential for the development of ecotourism on organic farms and organic producers are interested for this type of activities. However, several persisting problems limit organic producers to offer tourism activities. The main problem is access to finance, followed by registration process for conducting tourism activities and the lack of motivation and incentives from the State. This research has numerous limitations and further effort should be made to increase its quality and importance. Key Words: ecotourism, organic farms, tourism activities, rural tourism, development potential JEL classification: O13, Q10 1 This paper is a part of the results within research on project 179001 financed by Ministry of Education, Science and Technological development of the Republic of Serbia 2 Isidora Ljumoviš, Ph.D, Research Associate, Institute of Economic Sciences, Zmaj Jovina 12, Belgrade, [email protected] 3 Ivana Leţovski-Milojkiš, M.Sc, PhD student, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Jove Iliša 154, Belgrade, [email protected] 605 Introduction Approximately one billion people worldwide use some form of tourism services every year and thus the question of sustainability in tourism is gaining on importance. The spirit of adventure is more evident in modern tourism, as well as greater demand for holidays that are filled with outdoor activities, cultural and recreational facilities. It was noted that most tourists avoid destinations with degraded environment, with the evident shift of tourists towards the eastern Mediterranean and Central and Eastern Europe (Laziš et al., 2013). According to Ubaviš (2015), the most important areas of tourism in Serbia in the future will be: (1) city break; (2) business travel; (3) mountains and lakes; (4) cruise; (5) health tourism; (6) sailing; (7) events; (8) special interests; and (9) rural tourism. An increasing number of tourists pay attention to the conservation of resources during their travel, which includes a visit to destinations with hotels that base their business on the principle of sustainable development, the choice of the beaches with the green flag, and the offer of healthy organic meals. Tourists primarily pay attention to this new type of offer in order to protect themselves and their family, to be sure of safety, quality and standard of tourism offer and to be sure of food safety and quality. They also want to spend their leisure time in the ―green‖ natural environment, on the fresh air, away from city crowds and noise. Especially, tourists from urban areas often want to spend their free time in natural surroundings and want to return to their roots and connect with the nature. Having this in mind, organic farms, particularly those based on the principle of permaculture and biodynamic production are the ideal destination. Ecotourism as a segment of tourism as one of the fastest growing sectors of economy can represent important factor of sustainable development. In order to meet the refined tastes of a number of tourists, to widen and enrich the offer and to provide an opportunity to acquire new experiences while traveling, tourism organizations are now offering experiences during which clients can use ecological transport, stay in eco-hotels and ethno-villages, volunteer on organic farms in exchange for accommodation and meals and use other numerous services. To a certain extent, this could be considered as an innovation in tourism offer. Companies operating in the field of tourism have recognized this trend long ago and are increasingly offering arrangements that are sustainable, eco-friendly, earth-friendly, energy-saving, green, natural, rural, etc. 606 The benefits of ecotourism for organic producers can be numerous. When organic farms open themselves for tourist visits they receive the opportunity for additional revenue and they can attract new customers. This can also motivate other farmers to turn to organic production. The development of tourism in the field of organic production can affect the growth of employment, since joining organic farms in tourism offer imposes the need to organize additional services that can enrich tourism offer. These activities range from tours and education of tourists to services of food and beverage, all in accordance with the principles of sustainable development and the use of environmentally friendly transport. Tourism industry has great economic importance for every country as it contributes to its overall economic development, increased employment, contributes to foreign exchange inflow and improves the balance of payments (Laziš et al., 2013). In addition, these tourists are aware of the natural surroundings, preservation of the natural resources and protection of the environment. Worldwide, many organic farms are included in the tourism offer with accommodation, food and beverage, have a variety of activities to enrich the offer such as natural tours, horse riding or even the offer of volunteering on sustainable farms in exchange for accommodation and food. The global movement of WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) connects the volunteers and tourists-organic farms in order to support sustainable development. Their goal is, ―to promote culture and education based on trust and non-monetary exchange in order to build a healthy sustainable global environment‖ (source: http://wwoof.net/#wwoof). Forty nine farms in Serbia that operate according to the principles of sustainable agriculture offer this type of tourism services in WWOOF platform. Using this platform, an organic producer partially meets the need for additional work force at much lower costs, because the tourists who perform daily activities on the farm do it in exchange for accommodation or accommodation and meals. Tourists find the benefit in the reduction of vacation costs, since tourism services are offered in return for volunteering on a farm. Serbia has a big potential in terms of development of ecotourism, due to the large number of protected resources, natural areas, national parks, reserves, monuments and a large number of protected plant and animal species. Since organic food has gained an increasing popularity worldwide including Serbia recently, there is the trend of increase of the cultivated land area under the organic production. However, this amount 607 is in Serbia significantly smaller compared to the total agricultural fertile land (Ljumoviš et al., 2015). Unfortunately, this type of tourism in Serbia is insufficiently supported and promoted, there is no adequate infrastructure for the implementation of such programs, nor is there sufficient awareness of all stakeholders that could actively participate in the creation of this type of tourism offer and there is still relatively low level of environmental awareness. It goes without saying that unfavorable situation contributes to the lack of standards and legislation. Also, International Society for Ecotourism (TIES) does not recognize Serbia as ideal eco-trips in their recommendations of the environmental destinations in Europe. Responsible tourism, sustainable tourism or ecotourism Responsible tourism is any form of tourism that can be consumed in a more responsible way and it implies responsible behavior by tourists. The idea of sustainable tourism was developed by Jost Krippendorf. He used A.H. Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs theory and applied it to tourism ―because the development of tourist needs in course of time is very similar to the development of human needs in general― (Krippendorf, 1987, p. 67). Although sustainable tourism has been adopted primarily by small, independent operators, a number of the world‘s larger tourism companies, from hotels to tour operators, are also restructuring their management and operations to reduce the consumption of water, energy and to improve the management of waste (Goodstein, 2006). According to World Tourism Organization, sustainable tourism is ―Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities‖. Sustainable tourism development requires the informed participation of all relevant stakeholders, as well as strong political leadership to ensure wide participation and consensus building. Sustainable tourism imaplementaiton is a continual process which requires constant monitoring of impacts, and the introduction of the necessary preventive and/or corrective measures whenever necessary. Sustainable
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