Project “Wine Roads of Open Balkans” Presented at 6th World Tourism Organization Global Conference

The project “Wine Roads of Open Balkans” was presented by the minister of trade, tourism and telecommunications of Serbia, Tatjana Matic, at the 6th Global Conference of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), on wine tourism in the Italian town of Alba.

At the panel “The Future of Wine Tourism”, she also talked about the results that Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia had realized at the Open Balkans Wine Vision fair in Belgrade.

– The exchange of knowledge and experiences with other states of Europe and the world at the 6th Global Conference on wine tourism in Alba will considerably help our country in its efforts to make wine tourism one of the driving engines of tourism and economy in Serbia. On this occasion, within the panel “The Future of Wine Tourism”, we presented everything we had done within the Open Balkans initiative up till that point. We presented our idea, mission and vision of the future of wine tourism in Serbia and the region to the whole world. With further investments in the development of winemaking, it is certain that wine tourism will flourish here, and the wine routes will find their place on the European and global tourist map, along with fortresses, royal cities, but also destinations such as mountains and spas – Matic pointed out, as said on the website of the ministry.

She also met with the secretary general of the UNWTO, Zurab Pololikashvili. She invited the UNWTO to support this initiative and emphasized its importance not just for the Balkans, but for the whole Europe as well.

Pololikashvili praised the launching of the “Wine Roads of Open Balkans” initiative and emphasized the importance of gastronomy, cultural tourism, rural tourism, telecommunications in tourism, the Danube river, as well as including more countries in the initiative.

He also emphasized the importance of education in tourism and invited Serbia to join the online platform of the UNWTO academy which incites competitiveness in the tourism sector and helps the labor force of the global industry to more easily access local and international job opportunities.

Matic previously met in Alba with the deputy minister of tourism of Bulgaria, Mariela Modeva, to whom she also presented said project.

On that occasion, she estimated that the inclusion of other countries of the region, Bulgaria included, in the initiative would contribute to a better economic situation and the raising of tourism of the whole region and said that there was an interest in a joint application for IPA programs of the EU in the field of tourism.

Ministarstvo turizma i omladine Republike Srbije

Svetska Banka-WB Beograd

Ministry of Trade Tourism and Telecommunications

Ministry of Tourism of Bulgaria

World Tourism Organization

UNWTO

World Bank

Tatjana Matic

Zurab Pololikashvili

Mariela Modeva

Alba

Western Balkans

Danube

Wine Roads of Open Balkans

Open Balkans

UNWTO Global Conference

wine tourism

rural tourism

telecommunications in tourism

UNWTO academy