The number of domestic tourists in Serbia is falling significantly, and package-arrangement prices are rising even more significantly. The government blames the students for all that
If you were wondering whether Serbia there is still a place where you can recover both physically and mentally without breaking the bank, the answer is - hard.
According to the data Republic Institute for Statistics (RZS), in May of this year, the number of arrivals tourist it was lower by 3,8 percent compared to the period a year ago. Overnight stays decreased by 5,1 percent.
The biggest drop was in April, as announced by RZS, when the year-on-year drop in arrivals was 8,5 percent, and overnight stays 10,8 percent.
And that went to the account of overnight stays made by domestic tourists. Even a fifth less.
The silent economic crisis and inflation, which the authorities do not recognize, are taking their toll. In the EU, tourist services rose in price by 2021 percent between 2024 and 28,8, and in Serbia, in the same period, by as much as 45,5 percent.
"In the tourism sector before the corona virus, we had employees who worked for the minimum wage. A large number of people then left that sector. In order to return, salaries had to be increased and this affects the formation of all other prices," Aleksandar Seničić, director of the National Association of Tourist Agencies of Serbia, told Vreme.
Then again, he adds, there is a lack of workforce in tourism.
The rise in prices is shown by official statistics. In June of this year, the restaurant and cafe category was 8,4 percent more expensive than the year before, accommodation was 2,4 percent more expensive, and package deals were 14,8 percent more expensive.
Fewer vouchers – fewer nights
The project that the Ministry of Tourism and Youth of Serbia launched ten years ago, which enables subsidized travel within the country, has proven to be a significant factor in domestic tourism.
"The first and basic reason why there was a decrease in the overnight stays of domestic tourists is that much fewer vouchers were distributed than before. This year, 30.000 vouchers were distributed, which is 150.000 overnight stays, while last year 100.000 vouchers or 500.000 overnight stays were distributed, so only there was a huge difference," Seničić points out.
The right to vouchers is available to people who can hardly pay for a vacation on their own: pensioners, students, the unemployed, beneficiaries of social assistance, as well as employees who earn up to 80.000 dinars per month.
The government blames students for the decline.
Then again, high prices and low incomes are not to blame for the government, but - the students. "The consequences of the student protests are severe," recently complained the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić.
"Our tourism has dropped by 22,8 percent in the first three months, and that is a direct consequence of the criminal blockades and the criminal demolition of Serbia, from the outside and the inside," Vučić said at the time.
Senicic says: "This whole situation is conditioned by inflation and, in my opinion, some unrealistic exchange rate of the euro, and that is certainly one of the reasons."
March also saw a decline in tourism, primarily because Serbian citizens traveled much less to spas and mountains.
Foreigners are coming more or less the same as before - so there are no phantom foreign tourists who were scared off or chased away by the protests.
Spas are experiencing a major decline?
Visits to spas decreased by 9,9 percent in 2024 compared to 2023, and the most responsible are the most visited ones - Vrnjačka with 10,4 percent fewer overnight stays and Sokobanja with a drop of as much as 26,1 percent.
However, the financial loss is more difficult to calculate, considering that the absence of tourists due to increasingly shallow pockets is compensated - by increasing prices.
"We have focused more on foreign tourists, so we form prices according to the foreign market, and we do not take into account the local market, which actually maintains the destination," concludes Seničić.
If attracting foreigners is the main goal, then it goes quite well - there are 8,1 percent more foreign tourists in spas.
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