Present state and perspectives of spa tourism development in Serbia

Apart from very contaminated spatial areas, there are places with attractive and non-polluted environment, that are suitable for tourism and recreation. Such places are spa resorts, characterized by numerous and various natural elements having significant health and recreative functions (thermo-mineral springs, rare gases, favorable climatic conditions, rich vegetation, etc.), which attract attention of ample tourist demand. Serbia is welknown as a 'country of spa resorts', because of a great number of thermo-mineral springs, long tradition and their significance for tourism economy. Official statistical service keeps records of tourist flows only at 30 spa resorts (approximately), having participation at 95% of the total tourist trade in Serbia's spas. The topic of this paper is devoted to estimation of the present state and perspectives of spa tourism in Serbia. Special attention is focused on: analysis of resources for spa tourism, discussion of key factors for tourist valorization of Serbia's spas, investigation of structural features of spa tourism, comparison of Serbia's experiences in domain of spa tourism with contemporary trends in certain spa resorts in other European countries, and, finally, defining the most important tasks for spa tourism improvement.