Speleotourism in Serbia: Condition and development perspectives

Abstract

The development of speleotourism in Serbia is connected to the postwar period. Up to 80-s of the 20-th century the most caves are decorated in terms of tourism. Speleotourism was not continually developing, and most of the objects were put in order between 1970 and 1980. During the following decades development of speleotourism stays on the same level, and even starts to move in the opposite direction. Many objects were devastated during these years and they lost its tourist function. During the last couple of years, some tourist caves that were active in tourist sense were reorganized, and there is an improvement in speleotourist offer. The goal of this study is to analyze all the problems that led to the present condition and determine directions for the development of speleotourism in the future.

Razvoj speleoturizma u Srbiji vezuje se za posleratni period. Do osamdesetih godina XX veka turistički je uređen na veći broj pećina. Speleoturizam sa tada razvijao nekontinuirano, a većina objekata je uređena između 1970. i 1980. godine. Sledećih decenija razvoj speleoturizma ostaje na dostignutom nivou, pa čak kreće i u suprotnom pravcu. Mnogi objekti su tokom tih godina devastirani i izgubili su svoju turističku funkciju. Poslednjih godina dolazi do preuređenja nekih ranije aktivnih turističkih pećina i do oživljavanja speleoturističke ponude. Cilj ovog rada je da sagleda sve probleme koji su prouzrokovali sadašnje stanje i utvrdi pravce razvoja speleoturizma u budućnosti.