13 May Interview with H.E. Husein Memić, Minister of Tourism and Youth, Serbia
How does the Ministry plan to sustain Serbia’s strong economic and tourism momentum in the face of global challenges?
Serbia’s tourism sector has been experiencing a positive growth trend for several years now, in particular from the pandemic period to date. The increase in domestic and foreign overnight stays reaffirms Serbia as an attractive, safe year-round tourist destination. Of particular note are the results in the foreign tourism market segment, which saw a significant increase in the number of international arrivals from various European countries and other international markets. According to the UN World Tourism Organization for November, Serbia remains a global leader in terms of international tourism revenue growth, with a 99% increase in foreign exchange inflow in the first nine months of this year relative to the same period of 2019.
Serbia’s tourism sector was the quickest to recover of all Western Balkans countries and has seen steady growth. According to the forecasts of the World Travel and Tourism Council, the share of tourism in Serbia’s total gross domestic product in 2024 will reach 6.6%, while employees in the tourism sector will account for 7.3% of total employment in the country. According to the figures of the National Bank of Serbia, international tourism receipts in the first eleven months of 2024 stood at €2.5 billion, which was a 9% increase from the same period of 2023. According to the data of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, in 2024 there were 4.4 million tourist arrivals (up 5.7% from 2023) and 12.7 million overnight stays (up 1.8% year-on-year). In 2024, international tourist arrivals were 11.7% higher, while their overnight stays increased by 9.2% from 2023.
In addition to sectoral policies focused on strengthening sustainable tourism development based on the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the Ministry of Tourism and Youth has been undertaking continual activities aimed at strengthening interministerial, interdepartmental and international cooperation (notably through participation in regional initiatives, cooperation with international organizations and bilateral cooperation with other countries worldwide in the field of tourism), which contributes, among other things, to the attainment of our country’s strategic tourism goals based on the principles of economic, environmental, cultural, societal and social sustainability. In addition to the already established popular destinations, such as Belgrade, Novi Sad, Zlatibor and Kopaonik, there has been growing interest in regions which previously remained under the radar, such as rural areas. Responding to this trend, this year our ministry issued for the first time a public call for the award of subsidies aimed at developing and promoting rural tourism and hospitality in the country’s entire territory. This year, through the public call and a budget revision, we have allocated a total of nearly $2.5 million to rural tourism households, ethnic houses and traditional salaš properties to encourage their development.
Finally, in recent years we have successfully established Serbia as a year-round tourist destination. Our constant investment in cultural, culinary, nautical, spa, alpine, urban and rural tourism has already yielded outstanding results. This success is reflected in our tourism receipts and foreign exchange inflow from tourism, with our country emerging as a strong competitor to coastal, Mediterranean countries. We expect this growth trend to continue through next year, which we hope will be another record-breaking one.
How is the Ministry leveraging technology to enhance visitors’ experiences, improve accessibility to information and create innovative marketing campaigns that position Serbia as a top-tier destination?
As part of the drive to enhance the quality and improve the availability of Serbia’s tourism services, digitalization has been recognized as a key activity. In this context, we have also identified a need to establish an information system, the Tourist Assistant, which would digitalize Serbia’s tourism offering. This project was launched by the ministry in 2021 and completed in 2023. It enables institutions to upload and edit information on Serbia’s destinations and to upload and edit information on multimedia content presenting specific tourist destinations, thus effectively creating their digital ID, including information on accommodation establishments, tourist attractions, other services and amenities at a destination. This platform also provides the end user with easy and simple access to information on Serbia’s tourism destinations via internet browsers or mobile devices. The app geolocates the tourist and features an integrated digital map, which informs the tourist of the nearby landmarks or attractions, it features digital guide, which enables tourists to access information on the exhibits on display, the layout of a particular site, the availability of audio guides and virtual tours etc.
So far, we have created 60 virtual tours of destinations across Serbia. In addition, we have developed the National Accommodation Booking Portal. This platform, modelled after Booking.com, is designed so that it allows only the owners of accommodation establishments who are registered with the e-Tourist (Serbia’s Tourism Information System) to offer their accommodation. The project for digitalization of Serbia’s tourism offering aims to cover all tourism sites of exceptional importance with wireless internet access so we can bring fast internet access to certain sites in Serbia’s tourist destinations and to cover them with WiFi networks.
What strategies do you have for extending the tourist season?
There is a wide range of strategies in place to diversify Serbia’s tourism offering, aimed at extending the tourist season, promoting less-visited destinations and integrating unique cultural and natural assets into the national tourism offering, all of which are implemented by the ministry and the National Tourism Organisation of Serbia. The goal of extending the tourist season will be achieved by developing diverse tourism products, such as cultural, eco and health tourism, which are not limited to the summer season, thus allowing the destinations to attract visitors year-round. Moreover, if festivals and other events are organized outside of the main tourist season, this will bring about an increase in tourist arrivals pre- and post-season. The ministry issues regular public calls to finance dozens of tourism events across Serbia.
Promotion of less-visited towns and regions is achieved through regional association of tourism organizations, which allows for better promotion of local destinations and joint market promotion efforts. Digitalization of the tourism offering also plays a major role in this process, as the development of multimedia content and online campaigns makes less-known sites more visible to wider audiences. These efforts contribute to more balanced tourism development and help reduce the concentration of tourists in just a handful of the most popular tourist destinations. Digitization of cultural heritage further enriches the tourism offering, by allowing for modern presentation and attracting new visitors. These strategies focus on sustainable tourism development, Serbia’s increased competitiveness in the international market and more balanced regional development.
A sectoral policy measure aimed at achieving Serbia’s strategic goals in the tourism field includes promoting and financing tourism infrastructure projects. From 2022 to 2024, the Ministry of Tourism and Youth financed a total of 150 projects worth almost $30 million. In addition to these, other projects of capital importance for Serbia’s tourism development were financed in 2024, worth more than $11 million. These projects are aimed at strengthening the tourism value chain, based on tourism demand preferences.
What is the importance of the Belgrade Expo 2027 for tourism and using this global event to showcase the country’s tourism potential and attract long-term partnerships and investments?
Belgrade Expo 2027 will have a major impact in terms of tourism infrastructure development, since it will involve the construction of new hotels, transport network modernization and investment in sustainable tourism projects. Increased tourist arrivals are expected to continue even after the event, as Belgrade and Serbia will be exposed to a global audience, which will encourage further growth in the hospitality, air travel and cultural tourism sectors.
The National Tourism Organisation of Serbia will actively promote the country’s major tourist attractions, in particular those associated with the themes of the Expo, such as music, sports, gastronomy and natural sights. In addition to attracting tourists, Expo 2027 will also be an important platform for business and economic contacts, enabling Serbia to position itself as an investment destination. The expected result will be a significant inflow of foreign direct investment, especially in the fields of tourism, energy, sustainable development and smart technologies, which will contribute to Serbia’s economic development and its better positioning on the global map. The Ministry intends to join forces with sport and youth organizations to support the engagement of volunteers for this event. Belgrade Expo 2027, with its theme Play for Humanity: Sport and Music for All, is an event of paramount importance for Serbia and we anticipate it will attract the representatives of some 120 countries and 10 international organizations between May 15 and August 15, 2027.
What are the government’s strategies to promote economic development while protecting the country’s natural and cultural assets and heritage?
In keeping with the strategic goals of tourism development based on the sustainability principles, in May 2023 the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) and the Ministry of Tourism and Youth signed a membership agreement.This agreement aims to deepen cooperation between the Ministry and the GSTC and to encourage all stakeholders in Serbia to implement the sustainable development criteria at tourist destinations and in the tourism industry, with support from the ministry and an expert hired through the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
As part of this year’s pilot project, five destinations have been selected for implementation of the destination sustainability criteria according to the GSTC criteria. By August we expect to have a draft document with recommendations, which will provide a basis for legislative amendments pertaining to Serbia’s tourism industry during the first stage. Through activities undertaken within the framework of joint working groups, the Ministry of Tourism and Youth closely cooperates with the Ministry of Environmental Protection to develop strategic documents concerning circular economy, climate change and the environmental protection strategy.
Moreover, preservation and sustainable use of natural and cultural heritage have been implemented in the strategic tourism development documents at national and local levels and harmonized with the strategic documents of the Ministry of Culture in order to develop, through sustainable use of natural and cultural assets, a competitive tourism offering based on economic, environmental, cultural, societal and social sustainability.
What strategies do you have to address workforce challenges in the tourism sector, particularly in terms of upskilling, reskilling and creating career opportunities that attract and retain talent in the industry?
The Ministry of Tourism and Youth cooperated with the Serbian Association of Employers to develop the Tourism Workforce Skills Strategy as the umbrella strategic document in this area. In line with the strategic goals set out in that strategy, it was agreed that our efforts should be focused on quantitative and qualitative improvements in tourism education, to eliminate the gap between the curricula and syllabuses of higher education institutions, as well as on the subjects of informal education and trainings which should be provided to the employed and the unemployed in the tourism industry.
We focus in particular on local workforce reskilling for all tourism and hotel industry vocations. Lifelong learning is imperative in all industries, especially in tourism, given the constant changes in the tourism market, which are reflected in the tourism supply and demand. We are also making efforts to exchange human resources in tourism with other countries in Europe and beyond for professional development and specialist courses in various areas of the tourism and hotel industries, so they could adhere to similar European and international standards for hotel chains, as well as for other tourism services. Ultimately, human resources are at the core of everything and we see investment in a skilled and qualified workforce as imperative.
What is your long-term vision for Serbia’s tourism sector and plans to position the country as a regional hub for tourism and hospitality.
The trends in the global tourism market suggest tourists will increasingly turn to authentic, unknown and less crowded destinations, where their stay could be a blend of the ‘good old days’ and immersive experiences involving the use of new technologies and digitalization to revive historical figures and events from all spheres of life from recent or distant past. They will be increasingly drawn to those destinations where life goes on at a more leisurely pace, where they can sample authentic local cuisine, where the tourism offering is based on sustainable use of natural and cultural assets in all respects. With increasingly scorching summers globally due to climate change, tourists are more likely to spend their summer holidays at destinations with cooler and moderate summers, while faster and more efficient transport links to destinations are becoming imperative.
With this in mind, strategic projects in the tourism industry in 2025 and beyond will focus on creating a competitively priced, attractive tourism offering, based on the principles of economic, environmental, cultural, societal and social sustainability. Sectoral policies in the tourism sector include measures to promote the development of such tourism offering, which will cater to the preferences (demands) of our tourists. Sectoral policy measures in the tourism sector are focused on the development of rural and cultural tourism (with emphasis on the development of national and European cultural tourism routes dedicated to gastronomy and historical figures), creative tourism and creative industries and thus also entrepreneurship, as well as special interest tourism, health tourism and nautical tourism, coupled with continued development of complementary tourism products and niche tourism products.
As the tourism market is a dynamic one, tourists arriving in Serbia will definitely be pleasantly surprised. Our tourism offering will appeal to tourists who are drawn to living life at a more leisurely pace, with an abundance of opportunities for them to create new experiences, coupled with the use of modern technologies to help tourists learn about the past, while experiencing the present first-hand at our destinations, through carefully designed, authentic and, where possible, interactive content. Serbia is poised to emerge as a must-see destination in the coming years. I would therefore like to invite all USA Today readers not to hesitate and visit us to experience our stunningly beautiful country.