Serbia has a long tradition in thermal baths tourism development. In the second half of the
twentieth century, this branch of tourism attracted a significant segment of tourist demand,
both domestic and foreign. However, due to difficult business conditions in the nineties, its
infrastructure became outdated. This resulted in negative trends in tourism development
and a negative image appeared in the tourism market.
On the other hand, rural tourism is a relatively new form of tourism. In Serbia, it started
developing from the 1970ies. A significant interim in this form of tourism was also noticed
during the nineties. Today, these two forms of tourism are emphasized as the development
chance of Serbian tourism and economy in diverse development-strategic documents by the
Government and the departmental ministry.
The conceptual approach to these forms of tourism is used in this work, in order to scope the
possibilities of their complementary development. What is primarily borne in mind is the
resource basis that Serbia possesses for their development, but also the newer tendencies
and trends on the tourism market. Expectations are that a synergic cooperation of these
forms of tourism would ensure better results, and Serbia would position itself higher on the
international tourism market