There has been an uptick in travellers from India in Serbia recently, as the country introduces visa-free travel.
ADVERTISEMENTSerbia is benefiting from COVID-19 'quarantine tourism' as thousands of Indian travellers make a two-week stopover on their way to other countries.
India has registered more coronavirus cases than any other country, except the United States. Its citizens are barred from entering many countries during the pandemic unless they spend two weeks in another country en route.
Serbia has become a popular stopover destination for Indians because it offers them visa-free entry if they have been vaccinated and test negative for the virus.
They are also required to spend at least the first seven days of their stay in Serbia in isolation, depending on conditions set by their destination countries. They must also take another coronavirus test at the end of their quarantine.
Come for the visa-free entry, stay for the beauty of Belgrade
Jagdish, who is from the Indian city of Visakhapatnam, stayed in Serbia's capital, Belgrade, en route to the United States.
Jagdish, who declined to give his full name, said he had waited in India for "some time for things to open up."
"But things were not opening up. We chose Serbia because we do not need a visa, and Belgrade is also a beautiful city to explore," Jagdish said.
Hotel owners said thousands of Indians came to Belgrade in July.
"I would not call this 'quarantine tourism', but in the end, it comes to that ... there are plenty of hotels which are full," said Ilija Smiljanic, manager of Mark Group hotels.
In June, Serbia recorded a 48.4 per cent annual increase in tourist arrivals and the number of overnight stays increased by almost 40 per cent, the Statistics Office said.
Tourism accounts for around 2.5 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. Serbia suffered a loss of more than €1 billion in revenue last year because of COVID-19 restrictions.
Since last December, Serbia has vaccinated almost a third of its 6.7 million population. Serbia has recorded more than 722,220 people COVID-19 cases and 7,118 deaths from the virus.
