Neglected Serbian beauties – Private owners invest capital in spas, state does not find health tourism a priority

(Photo: Marija Kambić)

It is a commonly known fact that government provides funds for all kinds of things. Keeping alive a number of losers for the sake of social peace is a normal thing. Therefore, there are no funds for the support of profitable industries. One of them is spa tourism.

Local center for rehabilitation body and soul have been operating well, private capital has already entered spa and wellness industry. However, grandiose luxurious hotels cannot survive without rehabilitation of infrastructure.

There is a demand for a bed extra in Lukovicka banja. Hotel capacities are booked until November and the owner of Planinka hired 100% of capable citizens. The company is building another hotel and is inviting the youth to return. Their efforts to attract guests are obviously and the efforts of the guests to come to the spa are even greater.

Passengers who come from Kursumlija and Brzece take a couple of kilometers of ground road with a speed not higher than 20 km per hour.

Decrepit passengers, if they make to the spa without damaged cars, apart from excellent hotels, will se very few things. The central street is abandoned, houses are incomplete so there is nothing else than to stay at the hotel.

Representatives of Lukovska banja told us that they have excellent cooperation with the Kursumlija municipality and that neither the owner of the facility nor the local self-governance has funds for the road.

Jelak Hotel in Lukovska Banja (Photo: Marija Kambić)

Only car takes to Vrdnik spa

The situation is not much better in one of the most popular spas in Vojvodina – Vrdnik, which is only 25 km far from Belgrade.

As they say in the spa, one of the major trouble spots is that there are no buses which would connect Vrdnik with Belgrade and Novi Sad. Also, there is no intercity line to the nearest town – Ruma.

The condition on the roads is very bad, roads are not plain, there are many holes, communication trenches are not properly marked and there is no adequate road signs which would suggest potential tourists that there is a tourist destination where they can rehabilitate, have rest, enjoy, etc. A landfill on the Ruma-Vrdnik road is a huge environmental problem since it pollutes environment every day.

There are specific steps and investments in the Vrdnik spa thanks to Novi Sad-based Promont Group which invested in the construction of the Premier Aqua. Sports courts entered the finishing construction stage (tennis, futsal, handball, golf) and an ethno restaurant is under construction near Vrdnicka kula.

Dr Hadi Mansouri, Director of the Premier Aqua, says for eKapija that they celebrated the first anniversary and that they can say they succeded in market positioning as one of the leading five-star hotels in Serbia.

Hotel Premier Aqua (Photo: Marija Kambić)

- Aqua Medica, a specialized ordination for physical medicine and rehabilitation which operates within the hotel, with its most modern equipment and expert staff extremely contributes to the spa tourism development. We became known for top service, very representative wellness and spa center and new investments which are planned will, we believe, strengthen the position.

From the atomic spa 21 kilometer less

Private capital revived the Atomic spa Gornja Trepca which has not had an empty bed for years and since it has treatment effect, more and more foreigners are visiting it.

The reconstruction of the road from Gornji Milanovac to Gornja Trepca, a spa closer to Belgrade for 21km, since road does not take you to Ibarska magistrala through Preljine. The road nine kilometers long is completely rehabilitated and modernized so that everybody coming from the north travel shorter period of time and thus save both fuel and time.

Bus passengers announce that buses will now go that way to Banja because the travel will be cheaper and shorter and visitors of this spa will be enabled to use accommodation in Gornji Milanovac and will need ten minutes to get there.

In six years, 243 infrastructure projects were funded

(Atomska Banja)

The Tourism Department of the Ministry of Finance and Economy has not provided specific answer to the question of why infrastructure in domestic, tourist places is so bad and if there is a priority ist when it comes to the financial result, number of tourists, region they are located in.

In 2006, Serbia adopted the Tourism Development which comprises strategic objectives as well as implementation measures, the ministry says and adds:

-In order to increase product competitiveness and on the basis of the Strategy of Tourism Development of Serbia, 16 master plans for priority tourist destinations have been done: Kopaonik, Golija, Stig-Kucajske planine-Beljanica, Palic, Gornje Podunavlje, Donje Podunavlje, Road of Roman emperors, Stara planina, Sokobanja, Tara, Vlasina, Zlatibor and Zlatar, Besna kobila, Sremski Karlovci with Fruska gora, Novo Milosevo, Bac, Backa Palanka i Backi Petrovac.

This list proves that spas, despite the fact they are generating remarkable results, are not strategic objective and priority destinations.

The Ministry claim that as of 2007 until 2013, a total of 243 infrastructure projects, a few of them capital, have been funded.

Marija Kambic