Development potential of rural tourism (the case of "Tešnjarske vešeri" festival)

Rural tourism is a very broad concept which includes not only holidays in the countryside a range of other tourist activities in rural areas, such as traditional festivals. Tourist festivals are devoted to different local products which are famous in rural parts of Serbia. Some of the most popular Serbian festivals are the Grape Festivals in Sremski Karlovci, Erdevik, Banoštor, Irig, Erdevik, Vršac, Župa, Palić, Aleksandrovac, Hajdukovo, Smederevo, Topola; Plum Days in Osečina and Koštunići; Cabbage Days in Futog, Barbeque in Leskovac; BaconDdays in Kačarevo; Ham Days in Mačkat; Golden Pot of Danube in Petrovaradin, Apatin; Mushroom Days in Fruška gora, Valjevo and Divčibare, Medical Herbs Days in Soko Banja; Bee Days in Zaječar. This paper deals with the development potential of rural areas associated with these festivals by analyzing the case of “Tešnjarske večeri”. This festival provides a diverse cultural and ethnographic entertaining program, combining visual and performing arts, and celebrates the vibrant life of the local community

The state of agriculture and rural development in Serbia

Serbia is a big chance of Europe for all its natural and resource predispositions. Primarily when it comes to soil quality, climatic conditions, and location. The entire economy of Serbia fell into a stagnation position, after all the turbulent events that hit the region in the late 1990s, and even Serbia itself. The developmental chance of Serbia is certainly primarily agriculture and rural development. With these values, Serbia will become a strong competitor to many countries in the region and Europe. The authors of the paper, using the statistical documentation, pointed to the current state of rural development and agricultural development in the country. The preconditions for a more dynamic restructuring of Serbian agriculture and rural development: active role of the state, as well as high private sector initiatives. However, the following aspects for the development of rural Serbia are of key importance: improving the quality of life of the rural population, a more equal share in the distribution of income and economic opportunities, and their more just social position. Balanced and socially sustainable development of rural areas requires synergy and good coordination of all policies that are in contact with rural areas and their resources. The particular responsibility lies in the agricultural policy, which, through the regulation of structural changes in the sector, should ensure the stability of agricultural production, food industry and forestry as the leading rural economy sectors, thus contributing to the economic development of rural areas and reducing the gap in relation to urban centers

Tourism development, entrepreneurship and women's empowerment – Focus on Serbian countryside

Purpose: The starting premise of this study is that women's empowerment is the goal for self-realization and that the support that comes from local tourism stakeholders represents an adequate base. In many rural areas, women have established self-help groups (SHGs), which facilitate the interaction with a wide range of stakeholders. The objective of this paper is to investigate the effects of SHGs on female entrepreneurship and self-employment in tourism. Design/methodology/approach: To examine the research question, this study adopted a quantitative research that included a sample of 513 women in a less-advanced rural area in Serbia. For the data analysis, the generalized linear regression model (GLM) was used. Findings: According to the results, self-employment is the leading goal of women's empowerment. Research limitations/implications: The main limitation in the research and the authors’ suggestion for future research is to increase the sample size of female respondents, so examination of their attitudes and role in the travel business in their local settings might reach higher significance. The second issue that the authors would like to point out is a highly local character of our study, so the future research should involve other rural areas in the country and from abroad (e.g. similar undeveloped countryside with noticeable, active women's role in local entrepreneurship). Practical implications: The most important practical implications of this paper are twofold: (1) the results of the research have shown that the tourist potential of rural areas can be enhanced through local tourism stakeholders' support; (2) women without professional interest or jobs in rural areas, especially in the areas where the population is traditionally dominated by men (husband/brother/father), have a chance to earn and to be economically more independent. This research can affect future studies to investigate other aspects of empowerment depending on the difference of regions, from one side, and also alternative opportunities for tourism and local development in less-advanced rural areas, from another side. Originality/value: The study analyzes the tourism potential of the rural areas (which are less advanced and mostly very poor in developing countries, such as Serbia). In this case, there are opportunities to increase employment, social inclusion of women, development of new tourism strategies, implementation of destination marketing, etc. Moreover, it contributes to future research in the field of stakeholders in tourism strategies. © 2021, Darko B. Vukovic, Marko Petrovic, Moinak Maiti and Aleksandra Vujko

Residents’ perceptions of wine tourism on the rural destinations development

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of wine tourism on rural destination development. Consequently, this study attempts to develop contemporary insights on this under-researched area such as residents’ perceptions of wine tourism and its impact on the rural destination development. Design/methodology/approach: In this study, the authors used a structured survey questionnaire from a random sample of 318 respondents based on the Fruška Gora Mountain in Serbia. Research also used structural equational modeling for empirical econometric testing in this data sample. This technique is appropriate for multivariate analysis. Findings: Personal resident benefit associated with wineries is positively related to resident perceived economic impact (H1) R2=0.624; socio-cultural impact (H2) R2=0.685 and environmental impact (H3) R2=0.716 of wineries on local communities. Looking at the path diagram, the authors concluded that personal resident benefit associated with wineries is strongly related to resident perceived impact of wineries on local communities as regression weights are higher. Other findings relate those residents’ positive perceptions of wine tourism to increases in sales revenue, environmental protection, intrapersonal and interpersonal communication. Research limitations/implications: The positive attitude of the local population is an essential link of development. Such understanding of residents’ perceptions optimizes destination management in the future and, more importantly, local sustainable development. This has high policy implications. Originality/value: The present study contributes to the scientific circles by connecting perception research with wine tourism. © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited