A total of 2,079,643 tourists stayed in Serbia last year, one percent more than in 2011, the Tourism Organization of Serbia has announced citing data provided by the state statistical office.
The 1,269,676 guests from inside the country accounted for 61 percent of the total number, down three percent from the year before. There were 809,967 guests from abroad, six percent more than in 2011.
They stayed a total of 6,484,702 nights, a drop of two percent. Domestic tourists accounted for 72 percent of this number (4,688,485 nights, a six percent drop), while foreigners were responsible for 1,796,217 nights – a rise of nine percent.
By number of nights, Serbian tourists preferred spas (41 percent) and mountain resorts (31 percent). The majority of the visitors from abroad stayed in Belgrade – 51 percent.
By the same criterion, the spa resort of Vrnjacka Banja was the most popular among Serbians (454,966 nights or 14 percent less than in 2011), followed by Mt Zlatibor, Belgrade, Soko Banja spa resort, and Mt Kopaonik.
Foreigners spent 918,728 nights in Belgrade, a surge of eight percent, followed by Novi Sad, Zlatibor, Vrnjacka Banja and Nis.
Among visitors from abroad, those from Bosnia-Herzegovina were the most numerous – 148,784 or ten percent less than in 2011, followed by tourists from Italy, Montenegro, Slovenia, Germany and Croatia.
Source Taanjug
