Tourism in Serbia

Logo of the National Tourism Organization of 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 1.0% of GDP in 2010.[1] Tourism in Serbia employs some 75,000 people, about 3% of the country's workforce.[1]

In recent years Serbia recorded a significant increase in the number of foreign tourists ( approximately 10-15% growth per year). Major tourist descinations include cities and ethno villages, ski resorts, spas and health resorts, nature parks and reserves, arheological cites, religious architecture, music festivals and other.[2]

Lonely Planet included Serbia in the top 10 countries to visit in 2015,[3] while Rough Guides included Belgrade in the top 10 cities to visit.[4]

History and statistics

In the 1980s Serbia 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.[5]

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.[5] By 2010 revenue from international tourism had grown to 605 million euros. 2014 was a significant year for foreign tourists, their number has surpassed one million. Many of the visitors were from other Balkan countries – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovenia and Croatia – and from Europe, principally Germany, Russia, Italy and Turkey. From non European countries, most tourists come from the United States, China, Australia and South Korea.[6]

Statistics by year

Year Total tourist 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

Arrivals by country

Most visitors arriving to Serbia on short term basis in 2015 were from the following countries of nationality:[16]

Rank Country Number
1 Bosnia and Herzegovina 87,397
2 Bulgaria 70,891
3 Montenegro 70,861
4 Croatia 65,886
5 Slovenia 65,754
6 Turkey 64,191
7 Germany 60,886
8 Italy 44,314
9 Romania 44,225
10 Greece 43,869
Total foreign 1,132,221

Gallery

Spa resorts

Music festivals

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Serbia, 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. ↑ Visit Serbia
  3. ↑ Serbia In Lonely Planet’s Top 10 Countries To Visit In 2015
  4. ↑ Top 10 cities
  5. 1 2 Marat Terterov (ed.) (2006). Doing business with Serbia, second edition. London: GMB Publishing. ISBN 978-1-905050-14-7. p.177.
  6. ↑ 2014 statistics
  7. ↑ 2003 statistics
  8. ↑ 2004 statistics
  9. ↑ 2005 statistics
  10. ↑ 2006 statistics
  11. ↑ 2007 statistics
  12. ↑ 2008 statistics
  13. ↑ 2009-2013 statistics
  14. ↑ 2014 statistics
  15. ↑ 2014 statistics
  16. ↑ Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Serbia – Tourism, 2015

Further reading

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Serbia.
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