Business Environment in Serbia – Impact on Tourism Operations – Tourist Organization of the City of Vranje

Abstract

Tourism is one of the fastest growing branches of the Serbian economy in which much potential is recognized, but still largely underutilized. The level and manner of potential utilization is currently inadmissibly low, without any clear indicators which would point out a problem-solving progression plan. Business entities from the tourism sector are constantly exposed to unpredictable market changes and to the impact of the business environment in which the level of competition is constantly increasing. In addition to strengthening their own internal environment in order to prevent stagnation in following market trends, tourist organizations in Serbia pay great attention to the limiting factors that are imposed by the state administration and local self-government. For this reason, there is a lot of effort to ensure an unhindered business process and the possibility of obtaining assistance from the state of Serbia, or the cities in which tourist organizations operate. In order to ensure that Serbian tourism doesn't turn into a missed opportunity, systemic solutions are needed. The paper gives a modest contribution to tourism business in Serbia. The authors described the environmental factors in which business entities in the industry operate, as well as the ways in which the factors influence tourist demand. The paper puts emphasis on Tourist Organizations (TO) and as an example, it presents the case study of Tourist Organization of Vranje -city in Eastern Serbia. SWOT analysis points to the possibility of achieving better operations of this tourist organization indicating that such business practices could be applied to other tourist organizations in Serbia.