Labovic: Foreign tourists aim to visit as many regional countries as possible in one trip

Marija Labovic, Director of the Tourism Organization of Serbia, stated that tourists visiting the Western Balkans from distant destinations such as China or Japan are interested in exploring as many countries as possible during their trip. This trend, she emphasized, provides a solid foundation for developing a joint regional tourism offering.

However, Labovic pointed out that the region’s tourism market faces numerous challenges when it comes to joint tour planning, primarily because the Western Balkan countries do not have a unified visa regime, which limits the scope of offerings.

Despite these challenges and various political and economic differences, Labovic highlighted that a joint tourism offering is not only feasible but is already happening in practice.

"The Tourism Organization of Serbia has been collaborating with colleagues from other national tourism organizations for many years, particularly in distant markets. Primarily, I am referring to the Chinese market, though we’ve also had some experience with the Japanese market. Tourists from distant destinations generally prefer to visit more than one country during a single trip. Therefore, when it comes to distant markets, we engage in joint promotional activities," Labovic told Kosovo Online.

She emphasized that countries in the region largely rely on one another for tourist numbers.

"In terms of regional tourism, we are each other's largest source of tourists. So, in addition to jointly promoting our destinations in distant markets, we also heavily depend on tourists from neighboring countries here in the region," noted Labovic.

For distant markets, she explained, regional countries present themselves together, but inconsistencies in visa regimes can sometimes pose a challenge.

"When visitors come from far away, differing visa requirements across the region can complicate travel arrangements. However, it is important to note that when we promote ourselves in distant markets, we usually do so together with other countries in the region because this aligns with the expectations of those markets in terms of the number of days tourists spend and the variety of tourism products offered," Labovic emphasized.

When asked how political tensions in the region affect the development of a joint regional tourism market, Labovic explained that every crisis, whether political or economic, impacts tourism first but that the sector also tends to recover the quickest.

"Tourism is affected by any political crisis globally, regardless of its cause. Every economic or political crisis—or any other kind of crisis—always impacts tourism first. However, what we’ve seen in practice is that tourism is also the first to recover. Even if a crisis temporarily halts tourism flows, they tend to bounce back quickly," she said.

Speaking about foreign tourists’ interest in regional destinations, Labovic emphasized that visitors from distant destinations generally want to visit as many countries as possible.

Regional tourism offerings, she added, depend on demand and the market the tourists come from.

"Our experience, and what we’ve observed for several years now, is that tourists from China often visit multiple countries in addition to Serbia, such as Montenegro, Republic of Srpska, Bosnia, and then continue to Croatia. This is an example of a circular tour," Labovic explained.