Health and Hygiene Importance for the Improvement of Tourism Sector Competitiveness in Serbia and the South-eastern Europe Countries

AbstractTourism and travel are important stimuli of the economic development, as well as of countries’ tourist competitiveness. Taking that into account, it is necessary to include wide spectrum of information which influence tourism competitiveness. For that purpose, the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) has been developed, which does not show the list of countries attractive for the tourists, but stands for the index for the measuring of factors which contribute to the travel and tourism development. On the basis of this index, this paper analyses the travel and tourism competitiveness, in relation to the countries in the South-Eastern Europe. According to the last TTCI report of the World Economic Forum, in 2013, Serbia occupied the unenviable 89th place. The subject of this article is the travel and tourism competitiveness recognition in Serbia, on the basis of health and hygiene as one of the TTCI pillars. Health and hygiene are of crucial importance for many tourists choosing the destination and planning to visit one country