BELGRADE, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Serbia decided to establish the National Council for Tourism Development, local media reported on Friday.
The decision was adopted on Thursday by the government of Serbia "to establish coordination and communication between all stakeholders in order to further develop tourism industry and position Serbia on the tourist map of the world".
The council will be presided by Rasim Ljajic, minister of trade, tourism and telecommunications.
The latest data of Serbia's statistical office showed that in first eight months of this year, more than 1 million foreign tourists visited the country, which is an 18-percent increase comparing to the same period last year.
According to the data, half of these tourists visited the capital of Belgrade, while other popular destinations were Novi Sad, Nis and Vrnjacka Banja.
Compared to last year, the biggest increase in 2017 was in the number of tourists from Israel (428 percent) and China (273 percent).
