Every day there are at least three musical, entertainment, cultural, sporting or gastronomic events being held in Vojvodina. And among the most famous, apart from the EXIT Festival, are certainly the Sterija Theatre Festival, the Film Festival in Palić, Zmaj’s Children’s Games and many others.
When you look at the tourist offer of Vojvodina, it seems that there is an attractive event every day and for every taste. Apart from EXIT, what would you recommend for 2017?
– Over a thousand events of a different character and scope are held annually in Vojvodina. We have cultural, musical, gastronomic and sporting events for every taste. Apart from EXIT, which is a brand of Vojvodina and Serbia, there are also smaller-scale events. Besides gastronomic events, which focus on making traditional fish soup and fish stew, we will also mention the Zrenjanin Days of Beer.
The cultural offer of cities is also enriched by so-called cultural summers, which include a series of cultural and artistic events. There is also the Film Festival in Palić, the Sterija Theatre Festival, Zmaj’s Children’s Games and Cinema City in Novi Sad, Ladies’ days in Novi Bečej, the Sombor Theatre Marathon and many others.
Alongside a wide variety of events, the nature of Fruška Gora, Vojvodina’s lakes and rivers, the Petroland aqua park and other bathing areas provide respite during hot summer days, and all necessary information is available via vojvodinaonline.com.
You recently returned from the Dubai Tourism Fair. What most attracts tourists from distant destinations to Vojvodina?
– The Tourist Organisation of Vojvodina presented itself to the UAE market for the first time in December 2016, as part of the 45th National Day in Dubai, and at the end of April this year it also appeared for the first time at the Arabian Travel Market international travel and tourism fair, which was also held in Dubai, and impressions are really positive.
Considering the growing business connections between the two countries, but also Serbia’s visa-free regime for citizens of the UAE, there is indeed interest in the tourist offer of Serbia and Vojvodina. What proved to be the most in-demand are the pristine nature and offers of cultural heritage.
Although tourists from the UAE gravitate towards Belgrade, we presented Vojvodina as a destination that is striving from the traditional to the modern, so we offer rural areas, then the beautiful nature of Fruška Gora National Park, preserved nature reserves and, of course, the great wealth of water that we possess.
Arabs are famous for hunting with hawks, so such a specific type of offer is something we could think about more. Halal standards in the hospitality industry will become essential if we orient ourselves more towards this market.
Arabs are famous for hunting with hawks, so such a specific type of offer is something we could think about more – particularly given that some of our citizens train these birds in the UAE and Halal standards in the hospitality industry are becoming essential
Based on experiences to date, what the priorities of Vojvodina’s tourism development strategy?
– According to the tourism strategy of the Republic of Serbian, tourism products of particular interest are city break tourism, events, MICE tourism, cultural heritage, rural, wine, transit and other forms of tourism. All of the aforementioned products represent segments of the tourist offer of the province.
Four key regions have been identified in Vojvodina, and those are Novi Sad with Fruška Gora and Sremski Karlovci, Subotica with Lake Palić and the River Tisa, Banat – Vršac and the Upper Danube.
This year, the Tourism Organisation of Vojvodina joined the Network of European Regions for Competitive and Sustainable Tourism, NECSTouR, which endeavours to manage precisely this kind of destination.