Priorities in commerce and tourism development policy

The status and key operational challenges in Serbian commerce and tourism sector have been diagnosed in this paper. In last decade, these sectors have been the most resilient part of the whole economy, achieving above average performances. Their participation in the structure of GDP and total employment are constantly increasing. Both sectors, in principal, reflect the overall transition of Serbian economy and confirm the global tendency of strengthening the tertiary sector of the economy through its development. It is pointed out that a large part of the scientific and political circles have little or no understanding of the role of the commerce and tourism sectors and their importance to the overall economic and social development. In particular, the paper focuses on the argument that the positive development of two sectors has not threatened reindustrialization in Serbia. On the contrary, achieved development in these sectors had multiple positive effects on the industrial and agricultural development, as the important sectors of the economy. The analysis points out that the future positive effects of commerce and tourism will even more come out, especially after the elimination of apparent structural problems in the functioning of these sectors. The causes of neglecting the industrial and agricultural sectors should be sought in the wanderings among the many mistakes that were made in the privatization process as well as in the industrial and agricultural policies. At the end of this paper, the key proposals for the further dynamic development of commerce and tourism are given, with the conviction that they will have a positive influence on the overall economic and social development.