AMERICAN TOURISTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF TOURIST GUIDES IN BELGRADE

Although it is not one of the popular city tourism destinations of Europe, the Serbian capital, Belgrade, is visited by a substantial number of foreign tourists. Most of them are independent travelers, predominantly youth, backpackers and businessmen, but there are also those who come within tourist groups. However, organized tourist arrivals are still pretty irregular, with the exception of the Danube river cruises which make call on Belgrade. Every year, from March to October, around 550 river ships sail into the port of Belgrade. These tour groups, mostly German or American, stay in the city for maximum twelve hours and, as a rule, have an organized city tour with a local guide. This paper analyzes the perception of and satisfaction with the guided sightseeing tour of Belgrade among the U.S. participants. The sample for the quantitative study was taken from the population of customers within one of the largest tour and cruise operators in the United States. The survey was carried out during the summer of 2008 and 2009.city tours; tour guiding; Danube cruises; Belgrade