If we can highlight the most important trend this year in preparations for the season, it is certainly the insistence of customers on first-class quality of goods. The pressure to lower supplier prices is secondary. As stated by Zoran Šimunić, co-owner and director of Naše klasje, the biggest change is that customers no longer have access to: ‘It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s cheap.’ According to the first signals they are receiving from their customers, domestic suppliers this year, fortunately, seem to be on the same line of optimism as the directors of tourist boards: of the ten suppliers we asked whether they expect a smaller/larger or equal volume of sales to hotels, restaurants, and cafes compared to last year, they all uniformly responded that it currently seems to them that this year could be somewhat better or, in the worst case, on par with last year. This week’s topic is dedicated to preparations for the tourist season.
Now that we need them, they are not here! This refers to the local representatives of the neoliberal economic school. For thirty years, they have advocated for a free market. They have promoted minimal state involvement in the economy. The state should only set the rules of the game, and the market competition should produce winners. Their favorite stance was that the state should not choose winners, in the sense of selecting economic sectors to particularly promote or protect from foreign competition. The commitment to globalization was present in every text and public appearance, emphasizes Miodrag Šajatović, editor-in-chief of Lider, in this week’s ‘Ekonomalije‘.
