Novi Sad, 28th October - President of the AP Vojvodina Assembly, Bálint Juhász, opened today the 55th International Tourism Fair, which takes place from 28th to 30th November at the Novi Sad Fair.
While welcoming representatives of more than 300 companies, institutions and organisations that participate in this year’s fair, President Juhász pointed out the great importance of this traditional event in promoting tourism and connecting partners from this and related industries.
President Juhász emphasized, while expressing great satisfaction with the fact that Hungary was a partner of this year’s fair, that the strategic friendly and partnering relations of the two countries was also reflected in the fact that the number of tourists from that country had tripled in just one year. He thanked the Government of Hungary, the competent ministry and the HEPA Agency for recognising the importance of the fair and accepted the invitation to be a partner of this important event for tourism.
“More than 20 thousand Hungarian tourists visited AP Vojvodina, and during 2023 there were about 63 thousand of them. In the
first nine months of this year, 48,082 tourists from Hungary arrived in Serbia”, specified President Juhász. According to him, the Novi Sad Fair has been showing for 55 years that it understands the strategic importance of tourism for economic, social, educational and cultural development, and that Vojvodina’s tourism potentials are European potentials.
“Our rich historical, cultural and natural wealth goes beyond the borders of one country and culture, and deep historical, political, economic and linguistic ties are what binds us to our friends in the region and in Europe”, said President Juhász and noted that for us the Danube was and remained the main street of Europe.
President Juhász also emphasized that in 2023, over 700 000 tourists stayed in AP Vojvodina, with nearly 2 million overnight stays, and that in the first nine months of this year, 2.7 percent more tourists visited Vojvodina compared to the same period previous year.
The Provincial Government President, Maja Gojković, pointed out in her address that it had been long since the International Tourism Fair in Novi Sad outgrew the regional borders and became an important gathering place for tourism professionals. She stressed the fact that this year’s partner country was Hungary was extremely valuable, considering that it recorded constant growth in the field of tourism and the tourist offer diversity. As regards AP Vojvodina, President Gojković stated that she was extremely proud of the flourishing of tourism in the province because the exceptional potential of that economic sector had not been sufficiently utilised.
At the Fair’s opening, Ambassador of Hungary to the Republic of Serbia, Jozef Magyar, Director of the Novi Sad Fair, Nikola Lovrić, and member of the Novi Sad City Council for Economy, Milorad Radojević, addressed those present.
After the ceremonial opening, the presidents of the Assembly and the Provincial Government, along with the Hungarian Ambassador and the Director of the Novi Sad Fair, will visit the stands of the provincial institutions, the Tourism Organisation of Serbia, as well as the stands of Montenegro and Hungary.