VALJEVO AS A TOURIST CENTRE by Aleksandar Beljić

Location  Valjevo is a town near Belgrade. It is located in West Serbia on the river Kolubara, between many mountains, one of more famous being Divčibare.  It is connected with regional roads and with Belgrade – Bar railway.

Attractions Valjevo has many tourist attractions:  - Divčibare – a skiing center  - Vrujci – a spa center  - Petnica – a swiming pool, student research center and cave attraction  - Gradac – one of the cleanest rivers of Serbia  - Stevan Filipovic and Marko Kraljevic monument – a place from which you can see the whole city - very attractive  - village tourism

Events  - Valjevo has many events. The most popular are:  - Tešnjar Evenings – popular culture event taking place in August  - Dog Show – one of the events organised on the 1 st of May  - Abrasevic Days – organised in December  - Miss Beauty Contest “Beli Narcis” (White Narcissus) – a May event

Facilities  Valjevo has hotels and many restaurants in the town center. The most famous are the Grand and Narcissus Hotels, and some of the most popular restaurants are Hunting Lodge and Platani (Plane Trees).  Also near Valjevo there are more hotels and restaurants in Mount Divčibare and in Vrujci spa center.  A student research center is located in Petnica, 7 km from Valjevo. It is very popular with students from EX YU countries.

Investment Incentives  Valjevo is 100 km away from Belgrade, connected with a regional road and railway with the Capital town.  It is an industrial town (defence, home appliance and textile businesses) as well as a building construction center.  Rising economy.  Stubo Rovni Dam will be very important for development of the whole region. In addition to providing water supply for the whole region, it will be especially interesting for tourism.

Recommendations for the Future Road Construction: higher quality of roads, easier access to travel resorts... More tourist events More new hotels Beter promotion of Valjevo and its tourist amenities