Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic opened the
32nd international fair of tourism today at the Belgrade fairgrounds which gathered 850 exhibitors from 41 countries.

Dinkic said that last year, despite the economic crisis, Serbia maintained the same number of foreign tourists and added that Serbia has unused tourist potential.

He said that the arrival of low-cost air companies to Serbia will contribute to the increase in the number of tourists.

Serbia is usually visited for shorter stays in the cities, but it also has a lot to offer when it comes to tourism on the River Danube as well as cultural and historical heritage.

Dinkic gave licences to representatives of six tourist agencies that will enable them to establish business cooperation with tourist agencies from China and to organise visits of Chinese tourists to Serbia.

The six tourist agencies are Kontiki, Top Tours and Glob Metropoliten Tours from Belgrade, Magelan and Kompas from Novi Sad and Kompas from Kragujevac.

He said that last year China had a high rate of economic growth and it escaped recession, which enabled 46 million Chinese people to travel abroad. He added that Chinese tourists travel only to those countries with which China has an inter-state agreement.

Chinese Ambassador Wei Jinghua said that Chinese people are very interested in Serbia as a new tourist destination and added that the Chinese Embassy is ready to do everything to organise visits for Chinese tourists to Serbia.