Belgrade hotels emptier than last year, fewer reservations for apartments per day too

Since January, hotels in Belgrade have recorded 20 percent fewer reservations than in the same period last year, as shown by the data of the Hores association. An additional problem is that, since the beginning of this month, there have been plenty of cancelled reservations, mostly by guests from Croatia and Slovenia, reports the Politika daily.

This association says that the guests are inquiring whether we are a safe destination, and in addition to that, there are also unofficial recommendations from those countries for the citizens to refrain from traveling to Serbia. The beginning of the year, by the way, is not attractive for business tourism, but these days, there is talk in tourism circles that this sector is slowly beginning to show that the social situation is problematic in the perception of foreign tourists and guests. That tourism has already shown that the environment is not working in its favor is also claimed by the minister of tourism and youth of Serbia, Husein Memic.

– Hotel owners have already noticed that the business is affected, which is expected. I believe that it will reflect on tourism in Belgrade the most. If you put yourself in the role of a foreigner, who from the outside would come over here when they see a situation in which there is such uncertainty? Would you go to any city where you see images of protests? – Memic says and adds that this situation is yet to be fully reflected on results in tourism.

Ivan Vitorovic, the vice-president of the Hores Association, says that January and February are not attractive for business tourism, but that they have noticed that there are fewer delegates, and thereby also guests, at conferences. He says that the current events in Serbia also have a small impact and that this will probably be seen in the results from the first quarter of this year.

Incidentally, the data of agencies which rent out private accommodation such as apartments per day also show that the number of reservations is drastically reduced, but they say that one should wait for March, the nicer weather that comes with it and the period when spring travels begin.

– Private accommodation owners complain to us that there are also fewer reservations through Booking, which means that foreign tourists are apprehensive, whereas this is not the case when it comes to guests from Serbia’s countryside. People are coming over and looking for accommodation, maybe there are fewer reservations for spring travels, but that makes sense, because it is not known how long the blockades will last, so people are not planning too much ahead – an agency which rents out apartments per day told Politika.

Aleksandar Senicic, the director of Yuta, points out that our fellow citizens are also less interested in spring travels, but that one should wait for the tourism fair, when most spring and summer reservations are realized.

– January is a month when, after the holidays, less money is spent of traveling anyway, but it seems that it’s weaker than last year. The situation in the society is such that nothing surprises us. According to the data of the agencies, it seems that a large number of citizens will spend the holidays mostly touring Serbia. I hear that, in Vrnjacka Banja and Sokobanja too, the number of reservations is lower than last year – explains Senicic.

When it comes to foreign tourists, he says that this is not the time when foreigners travel anyway, unless it’s business trips and congresses, and that it is too early to draw any conclusions about the number of reservations.

– There can’t be a 10 percent growth every year. At some point, the market shows different trends, and here, everything has now coincided with the social situation, so those things are combined. Perhaps we can also say that the prices affect the choice of the destination. In city hotels, it’s nearly impossible to find accommodation at below EUR 120 per room, which also affects the number of reservations – explains the director of Yuta.

When asked where local tourists go when they go abroad, during the Statehood Day holidays, he points out that these mostly cities in the region, Timisoara, Budapest, Vienna, north Italy, for which there is the most interest, because the prices range from EUR 60 for shorter arrangements.

– The offer is huge and there are plenty of interesting travels, for example, arrangements which include air transport are the first to be sold out, although the prices are 10 to 15 percent higher depending on the type of transport – says Senicic.

Ministarstvo turizma i omladine Republike Srbije

HORES Beograd

PU YUTA Beograd

Yuta

Booking

Husein Memić

Ivan Vitorović

Aleksandar Seničić

hotels

reservations

cancellation of accommodation

apartment per day

apartments

tourism

traveling