The national strategy for the development of tourism for the period from 2022 to 2025 has been done well, but the question is how much it will be implemented, said Anđela Jakšić Stojanović, professor in the field of marketing and management and dean of the Faculty of Culture and Tourism. As she emphasized as a guest on the Radio CG Link show, the previous strategy was also well done, but, unfortunately, it remained a dead letter.
As she said, in the drafting of this act, professors and scientists were given the opportunity to get involved, and strategic and operational goals were defined.
– An action plan has been prepared, and for the first time we will have measurable indicators, so we will be able to monitor how well all these parts of the action plan are being implemented. The development of tourism is not directed by just one strategy, which means that we have to take into account the strategy on climate change, employment, regional development, micro, small and medium enterprises, the strategy of women’s entrepreneurship… and all this is harmonized with the EU. It is problematic that strategies remain a dead letter on paper. If you had asked me about the strategy from 2008, I would have told you that it was excellent, but from this point of view, it is bad, because not a single goal was achieved – emphasizes Jakšić Stojanović.
She notes that we still have great seasonality – from 70 to 80% of tourist traffic is realized from June to August, we have uneven development – 95% on the coast, gray economy, unfavorable ratio of accommodation capacities.
– We know where we want to go, but we don’t know how to get there. The key is that we still offer the so-called “3S” (sun, sea, sand) product, sun, sea and sand. It is mass tourism that cannot help us with the problems we face. Beach capacities are limited and with all the expansions, our beaches can accommodate up to 270,000 people, and during the season we have from 700,000 to 800,000 people in each beach. This means that you are destroying a natural resource, and you cannot achieve a strategic goal. The solution is to replace that concept with “3I”, ie educational, entertainment content and adventure. This is how mountain, rural, adventure and national park tourism would develop. We need to better integrate tourism with agriculture and industry. When a tourist from Germany comes, he doesn’t want to try the German cheeses that we serve in our hotels,
She believes that there is a chance for success, but only if we look at tourism as a serious industry and have a serious approach.
– Serious tourist destinations don’t wait for the season, they know before the start who their guests are, what their target groups are, because they do market research and have a serious marketing presence. With us, everything is still spontaneous and unplanned – says Jakšić Stojanović, local media writes.
