BEGINNING OF THE FIFTH REGIONAL FAIR OF YOUTH TOURISM “OPENS YOUTH FAIR“

The Mayor of Novi Sad, Miloš Vučević, attended the opening ceremony of the Fifth Regional Fair of Youth Tourism “OPENS Youth Fair 2016”. This fair brings together at one place all most attractive cities in the region, various festivals and events. In addition to the presentation of the tourist offer for young people in the Balkans, all those who visit the fair will be able to inform themselves about how they can become participants in interesting projects which promote the most attractive destinations.

- For the fifth time, the Fair of Youth Tourism brings us together and this fair is a story that gets better every year with improved contents and wider context. I would like to welcome the participants of the fair, which has broken the record this year in the number of exhibitors, and to welcome many guests from Slovenia, Croatian, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Srpska, Montenegro, Hungary and other countries with which we expand our circle of friendship. This entire project can be viewed in the context of the just completed Conference in Paris, where the leaders of the Western Balkan countries signed the agreement on the establishment of the Office for Youth Cooperation. We perfectly build on this story and we can even become leaders in the realisation of this idea because we intensively promoted it in previous years, not only by the Youth Fai but also by giving a chance to young people to lead the City of Novi Sad to the title of the European Youth Capital. Also, our city is focused on the candidacy for the European Capital of Culture. Within these two serious projects that are mostly led by young people, as well as renowned cultural workers, we have created a special place for the young people, the Youth Creative Polis, in the Chinatown - said the Mayor, Miloš Vučević, and expressed his satisfaction with the increasing number of foreign and domestic tourists of as much as 30% compared to the last year.

In addition to the Mayor, those present at the ceremony were addressed also by the founder of the “EXIT” festival, Dušan Kovačević, Director of the Tourist Organisation of Novi Sad, Branislav Knežević, and the Manager  of OPENS, Vukasin Grozdanović,  and officially, the “OPENS Youth Fair 2016” was opened by Snežana Klašnja,  Assistant Minister of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Serbia for the youth sector.
The Festival will be held at the Freedom Square and in the Catholic Churchyard on 5th  and 6th  July, shortly before “EXIT”, and as  every year, visitors will be able to enjoy free of charge in  various contents  of the fair from 6.00 p.m. to 10.00 p.m. on both festival days.
The aim of the fair is to position the Balkans by means of joint regional promotion as one of the most attractive destinations for young people in the world. Youth tourism is a great potential for all countries of the Western Balkans. Shortly before the “EXIT” festival, Novi Sad is every year visited by many young people from over 60 countries around the world and for all exhibitors, this is an excellent opportunity to promote their offers.

This year, “OPENS Youth Fair” will again bring together a large number of participants who contribute to the importance of this manifestation. Therefore, attractive youth destinations in the Balkans, festivals, clubs, dance groups, sports organisations, undiscovered attractions of the region, tourist organisations and travel agencies engaged in the promotion of tourism, as well as nongovernmental organisations dealing with regional integration of young people in the Western Balkans will be found at the Fair.

The Regional Fair of Youth Tourism is this year again marked by the candidacy of Novi Sad for  the European Youth Capital  and on that occasion,  the Conference “Novi Sad Opening Doors” dedicated to the initiative for  Novi Sad to win this prestigious title will be held on the  second day of the Fair.

Novi Sad, 5th July 2016