The National Bank of Serbia published a statement rebutting media claims and arguing that protests and blockades had a clear impact on the month-to-month weakening in tourism turnover and activity in the first quarter of 2025. It pointed to tourism statistics showing a small decline for the quarter overall but a marked deterioration by March, including a negative contribution from foreign tourism. In the first quarter, total tourist arrivals fell 0.2% year on year, driven by a 3.7% decline in domestic arrivals, while total overnight stays fell 1.6% year on year and domestic overnight stays fell 8.4%. The central bank highlighted that March was substantially weaker, with total arrivals down 11.1% year on year (domestic down 14.9%) and total overnight stays down 14.6% (domestic down 22.8%); foreign arrivals were also down 7.2% and foreign overnight stays down 5.4%. Given rising wages and pensions and growth in consumer lending, it argued that continued growth in tourism turnover had been realistic and linked the downturn to protests and blockades rather than to a reduced number of tourism vouchers, citing low retail trade turnover growth of 0.7% year on year in the first quarter (0% in March) and hospitality industry turnover growth of 2.8% year on year over two months. It also said the trend could not be explained by post-2021 price increases, noting that tourism turnover rose year on year even during the period of strongest inflationary pressures.
National Bank of Serbia 2025-05-26
National Bank of Serbia links first-quarter 2025 tourism downturn to protests and blockades
The National Bank of Serbia refuted media claims, attributing the first quarter's decline in tourism turnover to protests and blockades rather than reduced tourism vouchers. The bank reported a 0.2% year-on-year drop in total tourist arrivals, with March showing a significant 11.1% decline. It emphasized that rising wages, pensions, and consumer lending should have supported tourism growth, dismissing inflation as a factor.