• by Vesna Peric Zimonjic (belgrade)
• Thursday, June 11, 2009
• Inter Press Service

Two decades back many people in what was once Yugoslavia were fighting Serbs. Today some are fighting to invite them over.

Former Yugoslav republics Croatia and Slovenia have put up huge billboards around Belgrade and other Serb towns to invite Serb tourists to the Adriatic region, hit hard by the recession.

'When hearts says summer, it says Adriatic', goes the Croatian slogan. 'So beautiful and so close', it adds.

The billboards offer the sights of places such as Dubrovnik or Rovinj, where many of today's middle-aged Serbs went in their youth. More than 22,000 holiday homes there were owned by Belgradians.

But then came the 1991-95 Croatian war of independence that took more than 20,000 Croat lives, and left bitter memories of 'Serb aggression' because Serbs opposed the separation of Croatia. This is a legacy the new billboards hope to erase.

'It's time to put historical grievances aside and welcome Serbs to tourist areas,' Dubrovnik hotel owner Goran Strok said at the recent Belgrade tourism fair.

'What (former Serb leader Slobodan) Milosevic and Serbian politicians did was unforgivable and should be remembered,' he added. 'But the war is finished, and we can't change our neighbours. Serbs are also good people, and the time has come to reach out to them. I want to see Serb tourists in Dubrovnik.'

Croatia needs them. The Croatian Tourism Organisation reports a 20 percent drop in tourism this year compared to the first five months of 2008. Tourism makes almost 20 percent of Croatia's gross domestic product.

Invitations are coming in from all around. The Slovenian message is more pragmatic. Its billboards show the tiny towns Portoroz and Piran, saying 'The nearest European sea, with visa facilitations, Piran, Portoroz and friends.'

Slovenia is the only former Yugoslav republic that is a European Union (EU) member. Serbs need visas for the 27 EU nations, but Slovenian diplomacy has eased the process in order to attract Serbian tourists, who are traditionally good spenders.

War memories between Slovenes and Serbs are not very bitter. A ten-day war between Serbs and Slovenes in 1991 took relatively few lives.

But not all Serbs are in a rush to go visiting as invited. Many are fed up with the hate speech against them that has continued, particularly in Croatia, for almost two decades now. It is still rare to find anything positive about Serbia in media in many neighbouring countries.

'Friends, Slovenes? How come?' says Belgrade engineer Zoran Mitrovic. 'They did not want to stay in Yugoslavia, what do they want from us now...Croats calling us back, I don't think so. For the past 20 years, Serbs were all the worst for them, with or without reason. I don't think I'll go there any time soon.'

Many Serbs are indeed going elsewhere. According to the Association of Serbian Travel Agencies (JUTA), Greece tops the list of favourite destinations for Serbs (39 percent of holiday goers will travel there). It is followed by Bulgaria (22 percent), Turkey (21 percent), Egypt (six) and Tunisia (three percent).

'Croatia and Slovenia fall into the category of 'others', even after Montenegro and inner Serbia who stand at two percent each,' head of JUTA Radisav Stankovic told IPS.

According to Mirko Bauk, owner of Odeon travel agency, 'Croatia and Slovenia cannot match Greece or Turkey with prices. They are extremely expensive.'

Croatian and Slovenian offers come usually at more than 600 dollars per week in a hotel, without transportation. For that price, Serbs get both very good hotel accommodation and charter flights to Greece, Egypt, Turkey or Tunisia.

Almost two decades after the wars, there are no regular flights between Serbia and Croatia. In summer, for the past three years, there are only charters from Belgrade to Pula in the northern part of the Croatian Adriatic coast. Only 2,650 people travelled last year by those charters, Serbian flag carrier JAT statistics say.

Tourists do drive, but fear vandalism due to the clearly recognisable Serbian licence plates. The Serbian accent sometimes makes them unwelcome. Some Serbs admit they go to the Croatian coast by bus or train, 'and try not to be too loud,' as tourist Simona Petrovic says.

But Croatia and Slovenia are fighting a media war over Serbs. Croatia is ridiculing the fact that Slovenia has only 46 kilometres of coast and two towns - Portoroz and Piran - while the Croatian coast is 1,700 kilometres long.

Croatian media blame Slovenia for engaging in 'unfair competition', accusing it of 'putting additional obstacles' for Croats, referring to Slovenia's blockade of Croatia's efforts for EU membership. Last December Slovenia blocked Croatia's access over a territorial dispute on the Adriatic coast and the mainland.

'Croats always try to blame someone else for their problems, and now we are to blame for their failed tourism,' Jadran Furlanic from the Portoroz Tourist Organisation wrote in the Slovenian daily Delo.

Croatian daily Jutarnji List replied that 'Slovenes want Serbs as friends only because Croats want everything from Serbs except their friendship.'

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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