July 3 (SeeNews) - Serbia's government said it plans to launch with Bulgaria a joint tourist offer for third markets as of October in a bid to attract tourists from Asian countries, including China.
The two countries will sign in October a cooperation agreement, which will significantly increase their potential for attracting tourists from China, Japan, South Korea or Iran, the Serbian government said in a statement on Friday.
The cooperation agreement will involve a joint expansion into third markets and the participation in tourist fairs with a single offer, the government said after a meeting of Serbian tourism minister Rasim Ljajic with his Bulgarian counterpart Kristina Angelkova.
Last month, Serbian media reported that China's Hainan Airlines plans to start operating a direct Beijing-Belgrade flight in 2018, while two weekly flights between Belgrade and Beijing via Prague will be launched in September.
Chinese tourists usually visit more than one country and the Serbian Ministry of Trade and Tourism is already working on the development of a joint tourist product with Hungary, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, daily Politika quoted Ljajic as saying last month.
The number of Bulgarian tourists visiting Serbia is also rising, and in 2016 it went up by 8% to 375,000, Angelkova said in a separate statement posted on the website of the Bulgarian tourism ministry on Friday.
The total number of foreign tourists who visited Serbia in 2016 grew 13.2%, reaching 1.281 million. The number of Chinese tourists rose by 31.1% to 42,986.