Ecotourism development as a tool for repositioning of Serbia as a tourist destination

How can the rich variety of natural and cultural resources of Serbia be used as a competitive advantage for the development of ecotourism as a special segment of the tourism sector in the country?

The paper studies the role that ecotourism could play in building a favorable image and repositioning the country as a tourist destination on the international market. An overview is made of the current status of natural resources and the conditions for tourism in Serbia as well as the perspectives for near future development. Subsequently, the main strategic policy documents and measures relevant to this field are analyzed.

The key recommendations made in the paper are as follows:

• the concept of sustainable development should be included in the process of strategic tourism development and can be expressed in the strategic goals
• sustainable development should be introduced as a national strategy in the context of stabilization and economic liberalization
• all sectors participating in satisfying the needs of the tourism sector need to be coordinated by implementation of strategic planning tools
• appropriate planning within the sustainable tourism development concept should be based on partnership between the main stakeholders: government, private sector and non- governmental organizations
• reduction of poverty, combined with environmental awareness-raising and improved understanding of environmental protection, could also contribute to an improved environmental situation in Serbia
• the strategic image management is the precondition for a solid long- term positioning of the tourist destination

Finally, the conclusion is made that sustainable tourism development in Serbia depends mainly on the ability of stakeholders engaged in its development process to cooperate efficiently for expanding the country’s market share in a continuously globalizing environment. In this sense, according to the authors, the targeted support of the segment of ecotourism could significantly contribute to the achievement of strong competitiveness on the foreign market.