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Travel agencies in Serbia have their work permits expired on October 1, and in order to apply for new ones by law, they must have a travel guarantee that is issued as a bank guarantee or insurance policy. The National Association of Travel Agents (JUTA) states that they have been pointing out the problem for several years that it is legally impossible to get a bank guarantee, and that insurers informed them at the last minute to leave work – “because travel agencies are too risky this year. ” they will not issue policies. “
This practically means that as of October 1 there will be no tour operators or anyone to organize trips, and travel agencies will become so-called subagents that will only be able to sell individual tourist services, such as air or bus tickets or accommodation in certain hotels.
“The law provides for mandatory travel guarantees for organizers and tour operators, and since currently, during the period of technical government, laws or statutes cannot be modified, which would allow agencies to obtain licenses in some other way, it seems that no However, citizens who have already paid for their trips or received replacement vouchers should not be afraid, because these trips are covered by previous guarantees, and this problem only applies to new trips, which no one will have to organize ”, He said. interview for “Blic Biznis” Aleksandar Senicic, director of JUTA.
He points out that travel agencies are still negotiating with some insurers, but there is very little chance that they will issue bad debt insurance policies.
“The agencies were in the mood to agree to the annex of existing policies by January 1 of next year or negotiations to change the conditions to conclude the policies, but the other party simply told us that they do not want to go into that business at all. this year “, says our interlocutor. .
Senicic emphasizes that JUTI is trying to find a model to help agencies and employees to keep working, but that they are not optimistic and that if nothing changes drastically, we can expect a new wave of layoffs at travel agencies in late October.
The director of JUTE recalls that there was practically no summer season for travel agencies this year and that the fall in traffic is just over 90 percent, because the season was “like the whole year since March”, due to the coronary virus pandemic. It also recalls that only hoteliers received partial assistance in tourism, while there was no sector assistance for travel agencies, guides, car rental companies or bus carriers.
It should be remembered that in mid-August, the State allocated 1,200 million dinars as direct aid to the hotels in the city, in order to maintain their business and preserve employment in that sector. 280 hotels in 27 Serbian cities are eligible for assistance, and the condition for receiving € 350 per bed and € 150 per room was that hoteliers did not lay off more than 10 percent of workers before the end of the year.
Lower foreign currency inflow, more domestic tourists
Many Serbian tourists hoped that at least in September they would be able to take advantage of part of their vacation at one of their favorite beaches in Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria or something closer to Montenegro and Croatia. However, as the situation with the corona virus fluctuated from day to day, it was clear that for most, wrinkling at sea this year will be just a wish.
This situation seems to have been taken advantage of by domestic tourism workers, since there were many more visitors to the mountains, spas and ethno-tourism than in previous years.
The most visited were the otherwise popular tourist destinations, such as Zlatibor, Kopaonik, Tara, but also Soko Banja, Vrnjacka Banja, Srebrno jezero … Few have not had “selfies” of Golubac Fortress, Palic Lake or Uvac this summer.
“The inflow of foreign exchange from tourism in Serbia in the first six months of this year amounted to 416 million euros, 18% less than in the same period last year, when the inflow of foreign currency amounted to 1.43 billion euros. Unlike foreign tourists, whose numbers were drastically lower, there were many more domestic tourists than last year, ”Marija Labovic, director of the Serbian Tourism Organization, told the media.
In August, according to preliminary results, there were 25 percent more domestic tourists than last year. They mostly visited rural areas, so there were 64 percent more domestic tourists in the mountains than last year and 30 percent in spas.
It is estimated that 2021 will also be the year of domestic tourism or travel in the region, and global forecasts say that it will take between two and a half and four years for the world to return to the level of 2019 in terms of tourism.
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