Serbia's foreign tourism revenue hit €2.5 billion — +96% on 2019 — as the country posted Europe's fastest post-pandemic growth, and Belgrade converts it into a €3-billion waterfront, a rebuilt congress centre and an EXPO year.
The national frame: foreign-currency tourism revenue reached €2.5 billion in 2024 (first 11 months €2.525B, +9% y/y, +96% vs 2019), rising a further 21% year-on-year in early 2025. Tourism generates ~19% of Serbia's services exports, employs 113,600 people (4.9% of employment), and hospitality posted real growth of 8.8% (2023) and 8.3% (2024) before moderating to +1.5% in 2025.
The city's conversion machine is real estate plus events: Belgrade Waterfront — the €3-billion, 177-hectare Sava-bank development with Eagle Hills — includes the Kula tower with the St. Regis, 5,700 residences and 2,200 planned hotel rooms; Delta Holding's €118–120-million Sava Centar rebuild created the region's largest congress venue (Blue Hall, 4,050 seats) anchoring the Delta District; EXPO 2027 carries ~€18 billion of announced follow-on infrastructure.
Where the money flows: accommodation and gastronomy first — Serbia's first Michelin Guide (2025) covers 23 restaurants, with Langouste and Fleur de Sel newly starred — then nightlife (the splavovi raft clubs), events (EXIT in Novi Sad, Belgrade Beer Fest), culture (the National Museum, reopened; the fortress), and the meetings economy the Sava Centar and InterContinental are built to capture. Average meal for one in Belgrade: 2,500–3,000 RSD (~€21–26).
Belgrade's money story is catch-up monetisation: Serbia doubled foreign tourism revenue against 2019 — faster than anywhere in Europe — because the base was low, visas are easy, and the product (fortress, kafana, rivers, festivals) sells at prices Western Europe forgot. Tourism is ~19% of services exports, hospitality grew 8–9% in real terms through 2024. For the traveller the arbitrage is still wide: five-star rooms under €200, dinners for €25–30, raft-club nights for the price of a Lisbon coffee — though hospitality prices rose ~9–13% a year in 2024–25, so the gap narrows annually. Spend where the city is best: kafana culture (two Michelin stars since 2025), the fortress at sunset, a splav night on the Sava. For the watcher: the EXPO is a €18-billion bet that event infrastructure converts into permanent capacity — the post-EXPO fate of the Surčin site and the waterfront's absorption rate are the two numbers that will grade the strategy.
Subscribe to the digest and receive key market signals every two weeks.