Around 70% of travel arrangements to Serbia stopped – Trips primarily canceled by Chinese guests

Around 70% of the travel arrangements to Serbia made by foreign guests have already been canceled, primarily by Chinese tourists, which have been the most numerous group of tourists in Serbia so far, tourist workers say.

They point out that cancellations can be expected in the upcoming period as well, but hope that the current situation will not last for too long.

The director of the National Association of Tourism Agencies of Serbia – YUTA, Aleksandar Senicic, says that around 60-70% of the planned arrangements have been canceled and that it remains to be seen whether the rate of cancellations will drop in the upcoming months.

As he says, the arrangements are being canceled by tourists from the markets with the most recorded cases of coronavirus infections.

– These are primarily guests from China, South Korea and Japan – Senicic says and adds that European tourists have not yet started canceling arrangements, but that it remains to be seen whether there will be cancellations from Europe in the upcoming period.

He explains that other markets are also facing cancellations.

– The coronavirus situation will have a great negative impact on the tourism sector and this year's plans – Senicic says.

The Tourism Organization of Belgrade says that the share of Chinese tourists was 10% last year and that there were 150,000 of them, the largest number so far.

The highest growth of the number of Chinese tourists was recorded in January (140%), as well as the growth of the number of overnight stays (73%) compared to the same month in 2019.

The director of the Tourism Organization of Belgrade, Miodrag Popovic, said that the situation was not alarming and that the cancellation of travel arrangements by Chinese tourists had been expected. Still, he hopes that this state of things will not last for long.

– Luckily, tourist workers have a lot of understanding and there's a possibility of rescheduling the arrangements – Popovic says.

The Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of Serbia, Rasim Ljajic, recently said that the travel arrangements to Serbia made by Chinese tourists for February, March and the first half of April, had been canceled.

He said that, if the crisis ended within a month, it would be possible to compensate for the damage done.

In January 2020, there was a growth in the number of foreign (28%) and local tourists (20%).

– Everything pointed to a successful tourist year, but we have to adapt to unforeseen circumstances – Ljajic said.

He pointed out that economic damage, estimated at USD 30 billion, had already been done to numerous airline companies as well.

PU YUTA Beograd

Turistička organizacija Beograda

Ministarstvo turizma i omladine Republike Srbije

National Association of Tourism Agencies of Serbia YUTA

Aleksandar Seničić

Miodrag Popović

Rasim Ljajić

cancelling of arrangements

coronavirus

tourists from China

Chinese tourists