Sustainable Tourism Working Group Assessment Criteria for National Tourism Development Strategies, 2013 Assessment Criteria for National Tourism Development Strategies This analyse was prepared on the base on Assessment Criteria and Methodology for a National Sustainable Tourism Development Strategy of CEEweb for Biodiversity (Sustainable Tourism Working Group). Author and contact person: Marina Ilic Visnjicki venac 9 11000 Belgrade, Serbia e-mail: [email protected] Name of the document: Tourism Development Strategy of the Republic of Serbia (2006- 2015) Abstract 1. Introduction Sector for Tourism of the Ministry of Economy performs numerous duties of state administration which is primarily related to implementation of the Law on Tourism (2009) and Tourism Development Strategy of the Republic of Serbia (2006-2015). The strategy is the basis for reform in the field of tourism and the development of normative and other documents in the field of tourism. Tourism Development Strategy of the Republic of Serbia contains a description of the state of tourism in the Republic of Serbia (2005), the possibilities of tourism development in Serbia in relation to developments in the global tourism industry, a description of the development of instruments in competing countries, the strategic advantages and disadvantages of tourism of the Republic of Serbia, tourism development goals of Serbia, the Serbian vision of tourism, tourist strategic positioning of the Republic of Serbia, the Serbian selection of priority tourism products, tourist structuring of the Republic of Serbia, the growth model, the conditions for effective development policy of the Republic of Serbia, the competitiveness plan, investment strategy and plan for necessary investments and marketing plan. 2. Goals, target audience and methodology of the assessment Tourism Development Strategy of the Republic of Serbia for 2006-2015 points to the possibility of tourism development in relation to trends in world tourism, with tourist strategic positioning, selection of priority tourism products for Serbia and a plan of competitiveness, investment strategy, plan of the necessary investments and marketing plan. The products need to be recovered and commercialised rapidly, both with their own resources and with expected of the international support. The development of the assessments is generously supported by the European Commission 1 Sustainable Tourism Working Group Assessment Criteria for National Tourism Development Strategies, 2013 Vision of development of Serbian tourism is to see Serbia as the Danube Basin, Central European and Balkan country that equally appreciates the natural and cultural resources available to it. This vision should communicate Serbia as a country with a heart that accepts guests from all over the world, through tourism, which expresses its pride, identity and all its cultural and historical value and uniqueness, and the country that international market accepts as a safe, interesting, credible and above all clean tourist destination with a recognizable identity. The mission of Tourism of the Republic of Serbia is to continue the development of its potentials, to increase the attractiveness and competitiveness of tourist destinations in Serbia and to satisfy the needs of guests, investors and citizens themselves. Republic of Serbia shall ensure the preparation, long-term protection and integrated management of natural and cultural resources, which is in the interest of sustainable tourism development. In this it will succeed through the establishment of efficient system of destinations management, increased levels of tourist activities and increasing foreign exchange revenues from tourism, increasing the number of tourists in priority tourism destinations, increasing the number of employees, as well as improving the investment climate. The objectives of the Tourism Strategy are: Through tourism, Serbia must stimulate economic growth, employment and quality of life of the population; Through tourism, Serbia must ensure development of positive international image of the country; By means of tourism, and in the best interest of the development of tourism, Serbia must ensure long term protection of natural and cultural resources; Serbia must achieve international quality standards, and first and foremost protection of tourist consumers, in accordance with the present European practices. The outcomes of tourism development and the interests of the Republic of Serbia in the field of tourism projected from 2006-2015 are: encouraging economic growth and increase in total income from tourism to 1.3 billion euros; increase the degree of utilization of existing and construction of new accommodation facilities (with 46,349 available rooms in 2008. of the projected 70,000 rooms in 2015. and increase form 116,182 beds in the 2008. to 150,000 beds in the 2015.); increase the number of directly employed workers in tourism to 100,000 workers; increase the number of tourist arrivals to 5.8 million (2.3 million arrivals achieved in 2008.) And tourist nights at 15.5 million (7.3 million overnight stays achieved in the 2008., of which 1.4 million of foreign visitors); preparation of adequate infrastructure and other facilities for tourism products that require long-term investments (above all, mountain tourism, special interests - hunting, fishing, spa and health tourism and nautical tourism); security and application of international quality standards and tourist consumer protection according to European business practices in order to attract foreign tourists. Principles The following key values which should be the basis of the development vision of tourism in Serbia in the forthcoming ten year period: • Tourism in Serbia must be a winning combination for everybody • Serbia accepts tourism as an efficient lever for the inclusion in the international market competition and globalization; • Serbia wants to present itself in tourism as new, innovative and different • Serbia plays on the factor of (positive) surprise, for it starts, practically, from nothing; The development of the assessments is generously supported by the European Commission 2 Sustainable Tourism Working Group Assessment Criteria for National Tourism Development Strategies, 2013 • Serbia wants to concentrate itself in tourism on the contents and initiatives which may place Serbia, with minimum transaction costs, not only on the tourist map of the world, but differentiate it from the competitors, as well. 3. National Tourism Strategy as a public document National Tourism Strategy in Serbian can be downloaded on the website: http://www.turizam.mfp.gov.rs/index.php/yu/dokumenta/strategija National Tourism Strategy in English can be downloaded on the website: http://www.turizam.mfp.gov.rs/index.php/en/documents/strategy The versions in Serbian and English don't have identical content. STARTING POINT Serbia is now at the historical crossroads of the intensive adaptations to the European integrations, and on the way of defining the development clusters and economic sectors with chances for success where it will have to build, independently and with the assistance of the international community, as soon as possible, the competitive growth strategies. In that context, tourism imposes itself as an unavoidable complex, with unused growth potential. The present tourist policy of Serbia is limited in scope, for it objectively covers just the internal regulation of a sector which still does not have the strength nor the international competitiveness, which still have to be created. The present Serbian destinations/clusters and the national tourist policy are in a vacuum, primarily due to the fact that the tourist policy of Serbia does not have, at present, the necessary levers of influence on the development and growth of competitiveness in tourism. The state policies understood, besides, that the tourist competitiveness is created at the level of clusters and products, and not at the national level. Therefore, the governments should support the development of the competitiveness of clusters by various investments in infrastructure since at present people do not talk about touristically competitive countries, but about countries with more or less competitive tourist clusters/destinations/products. Serbia has only comparative advantages in tourism for it has a diversified structure of attractions, and it is near the traditional and new tourist markets, it has a long history and general distinguishability, preserved natural resources, relatively good communications, and an important human potential. In spite of numerous attractions, the tourist products are neither enough developed nor well commercialized at the international tourist market. Because of excessive centralization there were no investments in the maintenance of inherited tourist destinations, for the local communities could not financially satisfy the requirements of maintenance and of new development. The value chain in the tourism of Serbia, except partially in Belgrade, was not developed. Because of the high share of the grey economy and because of the disorderly statistics of the tourist sector, there is the problem of objective presentation of the present macroeconomic achievements in the Serbian economy. The existing statistics tell that the tourist sector has a share of 2.5% in the GNP, and of some 5-6% in the total employment in Serbia. The stratregic advantages and disadvantages of tourism in Serbia Strategic Advantages The strategic