T he study aims to provide a better understanding of destination competitiveness and elements that affect competitive position of a tourism destination. The research is design as a comparative study of Slovenia and Serbia. For analysing a competitiveness of mentioned destinations, the Integrated model of destination competitiveness was used. The results showed that both destinations are considered to be more competitive in its natural, cultural, and created resources, but less competitive in the destination management and, according to the Integrated model, demand conditions. Based on these findings, relevant proposals are made in order to improve competitive positions of destinations. ARTICLE INFO JEL classification: L83, C12, O20

The strategic planning of rural development is focused on both economic growth and sustainable development. Sustainable rural development is essential for conserving and improving resources, while economic growth contributes to a better standard of living. The aim of the research is to determine, using the participatory rural appraisal (PRA) methodology on the example of the village of Zlakusa, the economic activities developed in the village, the importance of rural tourism, and the scope of sustainable development taken into account in rural development. The results of the research show that the success of the rural community depends on: diversification of economic activities, which is accompanied by cohesion of the population through association and organization; organized activities aimed at local or republican authorities; activation of human and social capital; and initiating activities involving marginalized groups. Educating the population outside formal education improves the sustainable and economic development of the village and enables rural tourism to become an important part of economic activities and a channel for the commercialization of natural and cultural contents.

The folk artistry of Serbia is rich in spiritual values tied to customs, celebrations, music, song, dance, games, stories and legends, and this kind of cultural heritage is presented through numerous festivals, events and tourist manifestations. In 2012, the network for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage was formed, comprised of the National committee for intangible cultural heritage, the Commission for admission into the registry of intangible cultural heritage, a network of coordinators and the Center for intangible cultural heritage of Serbia. These institutions have chosen 6 elements of intangible cultural heritage, out of 27 suggestions: the slava, the Đurđevdan ritual, the kolo dance, singing accompanied by gusle, Slovakian naive painting, the custom of making and lighting farmers’ candles, Pirot carpet weaving, and Zlakusa pottery as elements of cultural heritage which reflect the national and cultural identity of the Serbian people, and Slavic minorities. These elements of intangible cultural heritage have a certain tourism potential and can represent an important factor in the forming of the tourist brand of Serbia. In order to determine the importance of the 27 suggestions of intangible cultural elements of Serbia, an analysis was conducted, using an adapted form of the Hilary du Cros method of tourist valorization.

Practice has shown that prices, an important economic factor, have a signifi cant effect on the choice of tourist destination, i.e. they have a direct impact on the tourism demand and add to its elasticity. More often than not, the connection between the "prices in the hospitality industry and tourism demand dynamics" is not a simple one. Many various factors besides prices in the hospitality industry infl uence the decision on a tourism trip, rendering this connection very complex. The effect of prices on domestic tourism demand is particularly evident in developing countries with low avarage salaries. To be better able to objectively perceive the effect of price growth in the hospitality industry, in addition to the basic parameters (prices in hospitality services, domestic arrivals and overnight stays of domestic tourists), we also analysed the cost of life, average salaries and changes in the euro exhange rate. All the parameters are for Serbia and they cover a period of fi fteen years, 2002-2016. The principal method used in the research is the statistical method of linear correlation analysis, where the linear correlation coeffi cient was taken as an indicator.

The subject of this paper is Web promotion of tourism in Serbia. Promotion was understood as one of the four basic elements of marketing on the Web. The paper analyses the main forms and the extent of use of Web tourism promotion. The focus is on domain characteristics, quality of presentation, visibility and search engine rank, Internet promotion techniques and number of visitors. Structural observation was the main method used to analyze 260 travel and tourism related websites in Serbia. However, as Serbia is in the process of political and economic transition, it is still characterized by insufficient technical development of the Internet and its low level of utilization by the tourism industry. Based on the obtained results the extent of use of Web tourism promotion in Serbia and its forms were assessed

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Sporting events are programs, which are dominated by creative and complex facilities, primarily sports, but also recreation and entertainment. As such, they achieve tourism effects and goals and have a socio-economic importance for the city, region or state. Depending on the size and importance of sports event, sport has a different role in the context of promoting tourist destination, as well as different values. Each sport discipline has its own criteria by which athletes are ranked individually or as team. The subject of the research is to determine the criteria for the categorization of sporting events, in order to determine the importance of sporting events as an element of the tourist offer (individually or as part of a tourist destination). Also, this paper's results present a comparative analysis of similar methodologies for the categorization of sporting events. Based on the research presented in the paper, there are four groups of criteria: economic, media, social and environmental. Together with this, paper gives the classification of traditional sporting events in the case of Serbia, dividing them in four groups.

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