Experience nature with all your sences Jovana Stojanovi Jovana Petrovi Jelena Stankovi Ministry of Tourism 7th

May, !"!

Mentor# Pamela $ree%

P&'JE$T (ES$&)PT)'*
Students of the Faculty of Philology and the Faculty of Geosciences will establish a nongovernmental organization with the purpose of promoting the natural resorts of Serbia. This organization will focus its attention on helping the governmental office of tourism and various tourist organizations to attract a greater number of foreign tourists. Hopefully as a result of our efforts the number of visits to natural resorts will increase significantly. !ur members will attend a two-wee" preparation course during which they will learn about Serbian national resorts. The main part of their preparation course will be to attain detailed information about the following natural resorts# mountains Tara and $latibor as well as the %anube river and the &erdap gorge. Furthermore students will use the "nowledge ac'uired at the course to ma"e presentations which will be given on the forthcoming tourism fairs worldwide. They will also perform the duties of assistant guides. Students will be divided into two groups. !ne group will wor" on the ma"ing of presentations whereas the other will assist tourist guides by distributing flyers to foreign tourists. The students will integrate the s"ills of languages and geography in order to achieve desirable results. The achievements will be measured on a monthly basis through opinion polls conducted among foreign tourists.

+,$-.&'/*( )*0'&M,T)'*
(n recent years Serbia has had to deal with many problems To start with Serbia had to face the far-reaching conse'uences of the war which bro"e out on the territory of the former )ugoslavia. !wing to the negative media coverage during the war years and in the years to follow Serbia*s reputation in the world has been severely tarnished. (n the interview for our research +r. %ragol,ub $amurovi- a renowned Serbian photographer stated that foreign tourists are surprised that Serbia loo"s that good. This implies that foreign tourists do not possess enough information about Serbia. Furthermore they find it difficult to attain detailed information due to the fact that Serbia is poorly promoted. However the gradual increase in the number of foreign tourists indicates that Serbian tourism is bac" on course. Training volunteers to promote tourism is a new approach in Serbia. The +inistry of Tourism started ma"ing notable contribution to promoting Serbia in the mid-nineties by the foundation of the Serbian Tourism !rganization. (n the beginning of the war it was a small organization operating only in .elgrade whereas today it has many branches throughout Serbia and has ta"en a more active role in the promotion of Serbia beyond its borders. This organization puts emphasis on uniting all tourist agencies in Serbia thus providing more detailed and precise information to foreign tourists. Still the organization lac"s manpower. Therefore recruitment of volunteers is an innovative and creative way to attract more foreigners to Serbia.

P&'JE$T (ET,)1S
.oals an% '2jectives There is one essential goal for the pro,ect and two specific ob,ectives within this goal. Goal /0 - To increase the number of foreign tourists in Serbian natural resorts. !b,ective /0.0- To ma"e a presentation in order to promote Serbian natural resorts in the tourist fairs worldwide. !b,ective /0.1- To distribute flyers which will depict the unconventional beauty of Serbian natural resorts. Tar3et au%ience 2ith this pro,ect the volunteers intend to grasp the attention of foreigners above forty years of age. The target audience are both people worldwide who will see the presentations 3!b,ective /0.04 as well as the foreign tourists visiting Serbia who will receive additional information 3!b,ective /0.14. Metho%s The primary methods for achieving the goal of this pro,ect are# ma"ing an effective presentation and recruiting volunteers who will distribute flyers within Serbia. The volunteer coordinator will be obliged to organize and coordinate the forthcoming activities. These activities will serve the purpose of both informing and attracting more foreigners to Serbian natural resorts.

,4,)1,+1E &ES'/&$ES
+eeting room5 provided by the Serbian Tourist !rganization. 5olunteer 6oordinator- this person will be in charge of the training course and overall organization of future pro,ects.

*EE(E( &ES'/&$ES
Personnel- !ne staff member at 0778 salary. Facilities- these will be rented on wee"ends 6hairs and des"s for meeting room 2hiteboard and whiteboard mar"ers 6omputer or 9aptop Supplies- paper pencil etc.

,PPE*()6 ,5 Timeline
+onth one :ecruiting and training volunteers +onth two %istributing flyers %oing tours +onth three +a"ing presentations Giving presentations on international tourist fairs +onth ;-< Planning further activities and presentations

,PPE*()6 +- Personal Perspective

9ast year during our wal"s on =alemegdan we witnessed an e>traordinary e>hibition of photographs of Serbia ta"en by +r. %ragol,ub $amurovi-. His photographs magnificently present Serbia*s most beautiful destinations and customs and are accompanied by inspiring stories. ?nfortunately when we wished to visit some of these places we found it almost impossible. 2e discovered that cities have an incomparable variety of tourist offers whereas only two tourist agencies in Serbia are specialized in Serbia*s natural resorts. @ven these two agencies do not have in their offer numerous destinations photographed by +r. $amurovi-. 2e considered this to be important because we thin" Serbia has potential to become a popular tourist destination. The photographs ta"en by +r. $amurovi- are one of the best ways of showing Serbia*s untapped potential. The vast ma,ority of tourist agencies in Serbia focus their attention on lucrative destinations such as Greece Tur"ey or +ontenegro. They do not seem to realize that tourist destinations in Serbia could become popular if they were given a chance. (n our opinion the presentations and flyers would be the most effective ways of attracting tourists* attention. %ue to the challenges Serbia faced in the past volunteers* engagement and motivation will be of fundamental importance. Although we feel sorry upon hearing pre,udices concerning Serbia we "now that many aspects of Serbian tourism are yet to be discovered. 2hat encourages us is the fact that more than twenty-two thousand foreigners wor" and live in Serbia. +oreover the foreigners who visit Serbia fre'uently come bac". They are certainly the ones who ma"e the best recommendation as they have en,oyed the Serbian warm hospitality. .