State and Condidtion for Implementing ICT in Rural Tourism in the Republic of Serbia

Information and communication technology (ICT) has been rapidly developing since seventies of twenty century. ICT development has affected to all spheres of society. ICT can help industries to be more competitive on the market. Advantages of business that can be realized by using IT influenced that its application has been made in all sectors of the economy. Implementation of ICT in some countries has shown that ICT can play a key role in business (for example, Small Business and Entrepreneurship), as well as the impact on the development of certain regions (rural or urban), or on development of local economies, etc. Advantages that can bring implementation of ICT also recognized in tourism business. Implementation of ICT is nowadays especially present in so-called "mass forms of tourism". Application of computer reservation systems (CRS) and global distribution systems (GDS) completely changes the role that intermediaries (travel agencies/tour operators) have until recently. On the other hand, the application of ICT in rural tourism has been late. This has resulted in the backwardness of rural tourism development for other forms of tourism. This is a global problem. A characteristic of rural tourism is the physical distance between the rural tourism supply and demand which is located in the urban city centers. A role of tourism intermediaries is to make their connection. The application of ICT has significantly contributed to improvement of intermediaries business. In order to made rural tourism supply available for urban tourist demand, one of the important conditions is to educate local rural population for use IT in rural tourism business. This requires special training programs. This comes from the fact that progress in the development of ICT has enabled a wide range of tools and services with which improved business in tourism. Rural tourism in Serbia has been developing since the seventies of the twentieth century. The period in which rural tourism recorded the stagnation of development and later lag, was in the nineties and reason is „well-known events“ that were characteristic of the entire area of former Yugoslavia. After 2000 begins new accelerated development of rural tourism. A special expansion has been recorded since 2006, when the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of the Republic of Serbia allocated around 92 million dinars to develop rural tourism. Today, almost all regions in Serbia have a greater or lesser level of development rural tourism. What appears as a problem in tourist business is just a lack of application ICT. This is characteristic of the organization and management of rural tourism at all levels from local, regional to the national. Also, the use of the Internet in the tourism business is not satisfactory. As one of the tasks which stands in front of Serbia is development of network economy, which would be based on the adopted Strategy for the Development of the Information Society till the 2020. Expectations are that the implementation of ICT should contribute to develop rural tourism, and increasing the income of the local population, also it would enable farms as small business entities to remain competitive in the tourism market which is precisely one of the characteristics increased competition. The aim of paper work is based on the analysis of the current situation in the sector of rural tourism in Serbia and point out the importance that can bring implementation of ICT in rural tourism business. Article indicates the necessary steps which would promote business of rural tourism in the micro level (small family farms) and macro level (operations at the level of rural tourist destinations - villages, local rural areas, region or country as a total destination system)