Serbian Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajic says that during his recent visit to Azerbaijan, he talked with investors from that country about investing in Serbia, and announces the arrival of major Azerbaijani hotel investor who is interested in acquiring a Serbian spa in February next year.
Ljajić also says that the topics discussed at the meetings he had in Azerbaijan were about investments in Serbian agriculture, as well as road infrastructure, particularly relating to the construction of the Ruma-Šabac-Loznica motorway segment. He also discussed the possibility of Azerbaijan lending the money to Serbia for the construction of this segment.
The minister also remarked that Serbia was successfully cooperating with the Azerbaijani companies that built a 40-km-long section on the Corridor 10.
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Ljajić expressed hope that an agreement with Azerbaijan would be reached and that the terms and conditions of the loan for the construction of the Ruma-Šabac-Loznica section would be even more favourable than those of the loan granted for the construction of the Corridor 10 segment.
“In February, we are expecting a visit from a major investor in hotel industry who already has numerous hotels in Russia and Azerbaijan”, Ljajić added.
Also, Azerbaijani business people have expressed interest in investing in the Serbian agricultural sector, especially in breeding and crops, with the visit of these investors expected to take place in January.
New tourist vouchers available as of January 1st
On January 1st, 2019, citizens will be able to apply for a new round of tourist vouchers – Ljajić announces. ,
He also said that if the Ministry had more funds in the budget, between 130,000 to 150,000 vouchers would be available. He reminded that, in the beginning of the tourist voucher programme, there were only 14,000 vouchers available and that the figure today was 100,000.
Furthermore, the value of 96,000 vouchers was paid to caterers that are a part of the programme this year alone. The application process for them started on December 17th.
Speaking about the work done by his ministry, Ljajic says that the fact that the Ministry has spent all of its budget means that it planned its costs well.
The Ministry’s next year budget is estimated at 750 million dinars, the same as in 2018. The Minister also forecasts that the next tourist year will be more successful than this one.
He pointed out that five major tourist destinations in Serbia generated 55% of the tourist traffic (Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kopaonik, Zlatibor and Vrnjacka Banja).
“These five destinations were very much ahead of all the others. We got two new destinations this year that made it to the top five this year. Also, Sokobanja pushed out Novi Sad from the top 5 destinations in Serbia”, says Ljajic, adding that this year, the southern town of Niš is expected to have more than 100,000 tourists.
(RTV, 26.12.2018)
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