DEVELOPMENT OF ECOTOURISM IN SERBIA: THE IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIC FARMS

Isidora Ljumović; Ivana Lečovski-Milojkić

Isidora Ljumović Institute of Economic Sciences, Belgrade
Ivana Lečovski-Milojkić PhD student, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Belgrade

Abstract

Ecotourism is extremely popular trend worldwide, but it is also important factor of sustainable development, necessary in all areas of human activity, including tourism. The organic ecotourism provides services based on sustainable development, with the emphasis on sustainable agriculture, conservation of ecosystems and natural resources, alternative energy sources, healthy nutrition and tradition preservation. Serbia has enormous potential in ecotourism due to the large number of protected resources, natural areas, parks and reserves, monuments and a large number of protected plant and animal species. Organic farms as active participants in ecotourism activities also include segments of food and wine tourism, offering a completely new experience with the possibility of active rest, education and awareness in terms of ecology and sustainability.

The results of this research show that there is an evident potential for the development of ecotourism on organic farms and organic producers are interested for this type of activities. However, several persisting problems limit organic producers to offer tourism activities. The main problem is access to finance, followed by registration process for conducting tourism activities and the lack of motivation and incentives from the State. This research has numerous limitations and further effort should be made to increase its quality and importance.

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