MORE THAN A WORKPLACE

More Than

A Workplace

Delta Real Estate Group is one of the leading regional companies in the real estate sector, with a focus on Serbia, Montenegro and Slovenia. The group’s comprehensive and diverse portfolio includes shopping centres, retail parks and hotels, as well as retail, office and residential properties in Serbia and the region

This company assesses investments with the support of international consultants and avoids engaging in projects that lack long-term sustainability, as doing so would be irre sponsible towards stakeholders, owners, employees and the wider community. This is the case with all investments, including when it comes to the Sava Centre

• How are construction works progressing on your business building in New Belgrade? Will it be something completely new, more technologically advanced, unusual and dif ferent to everything that currently exists in our country? It will offer premium office space for rent and other contents that businesspeople expect from their workplace. This is the main reason why we say that Delta House is going to be ’More than a Workplace’.

•Can you tell us what’s happening with what are perhaps your most important projects – the Delta Planet developments in both Niš and Belgrade? - Delta already owns two shopping malls: the Delta Planets in Banja Luka, Bosnia-Herze govina, and in Varna, Bulgaria. The shopping mall in Varna is currently preparing for the grand opening of an Ikea store, which will be the first Ikea store to be opened

Delta House will offer premium office space for rent and other contents that business people expect from their workplace

- The construction of Delta House was not stopped even when the state of emergency was declared, so we expect it to be complet ed as planned – by the end of the first half of next year. We truly believe that this business building is going to be something special, as it is entirely focused on the comfort, habits and health of its residents, as well as the protection of the surrounding environment. in a shopping centre in Eastern Europe. The construction of Delta Planet in Niš is underway and is expected to be finalised in the first half of 2021.

As far as Delta Planet Belgrade is con cerned, our company is ready for its construction, both financially and in terms of personnel. Conditions are still to be fulfilled regarding urban planning.

•You abandoned plans to buy Belgrade’s Sava Centre because you consider it an investment that wouldn’t pay off under the prescribed conditions. That’s too bad, right, given that you had a great vision for that facility, which could represent an important link for the development of the city’s congress tourism and culture? - Delta is strategically interested in purchasing the Sava Centre, and this is something that we’ve stated publically several times. We believe that this particular facility plays an important role in Belgrade’s congress tourism, considering its location and tradition. Delta is interested in it because of the fact that it is in the domain of one of our core businesses – the hotel industry. It is physically connected to our Crowne Plaza hotel and near the location where the new Hotel InterContinental is to be built. This implies that we are planning on forming something that wouldn’t only be of benefit to Delta, but also other hotels, restaurants, taxi drivers, vendors and many others. Of course, under the condition that we see profitability and business interest in it. The decision to invest in something is made with the help of international consultants and we don’t start a project that isn’t sustainable over the long term. That would be irresponsible to our stake holders, employees and the community that rightfully expects the kind of high-end events to which the Sava Centre is accustomed.■ September

Against all odds, it turned out that the pandemic had one positive effect - we spent the summer getting to know Serbia, as the majority of the countries we traditionally choose as our go-to destinations closed their borders. The money was spent at home, but, unfortunately, this didn't help our economy and tourism much

How we

Explored Serbia

The fact that the tourism industry would be most adversely hit by the pandemic was well known even be fore the coronavirus reached Serbia and then, as soon as we registered the first patients, the Business Association of Hotel and Restaurant Industry (HORES) issued an official warning. Despite an early letter sent to the Government of Serbia on 13 th March informing it of the lack of guests, the need for assistance as the most hard-hit industry sector, their problems have not yet been fully resolved, even though the state had intervened variously on multiple occasions.

The first round of state aid for citizens and businesses approved by the Government at the beginning of April amounted to 5.1 billion EUR and the second round of state aid for businesses amounted to 1.36 billion EUR. In the meantime, certain sectorial measures were prepared and adopted. Last but by no means least important of them, amounting to 1.25 billion dinars was aimed at helping about 280 hotels located in cities to “keep their heads above the water” according to the competent Minister, Dr Rasim Ljajić. Whether it will be effective and for how long, remains to be seen. ■

GENOV: WE WILL NOT SURVIVE WITHOUT STATE AID

– We have presented a proposal for the hotel and restaurant owners to be exempted from the property tax which has a very high rate and for our liabilities to Srbijagas and Elektroprivreda Srbije to be reprogrammed, the VAT rate on food to be cut from 20% down to 10% and for the legal provisions governing occasional jobs concerning seasonal workers to be applied to workers employed in tourism and hotel industry - said Georgij Genov, Director of the Business Association of Hotel and Restaurant Industry (HORES).

He suggested that all educational trips for school and university students should take place in Serbia and expressed hope that business tourism too will step up in the autumn. – For now, the primary goal is to survive so that next year we could fully recover – Genov pointed out.

SENIČIĆ: TRAVEL AGENCIES FADED INTO OBSCURITY

– Tour guides and travel agencies have had no work nor income and the overall situation is nearly disastrous from the viewpoint of survival amid the global pandemic and the inabil ity to do business. After the new government is formed, JUTA will insist on obtaining state support for tourist agencies to ensure their survival until the next year. If it were possible to expect for the borders to open in the autumn and that we would be able to work, we would not have asked for help. However, that is highly unlikely - said Aleksandar Seničić, Director of the Serbian Association of Travel Agencies (JUTA).

He pointed out that state aid to rent-a-car and tourist agencies and guides amounting to 15-20 million euros would resolve some of the problems encountered by this segment of our economy and would testify to the importance of this sector to the Government.

ČADEŽ: THERE’S NO RECOVERY FOR THE ECONOMY WITHOUT THE GROWTH OF LARGE COMPANIES

To ensure the growth and recovery of our economy, large companies also need to be supported by the state and the Chamber of Commerce to mitigate the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. – We will continue to work on the proposal of aid measures for large companies to support their investments, facilitate their operations in the country and abroad, remove obstacles to continuing import and capturing of the new markets. During the pandemic, large companies relied on their own resources when resolving issues but their further growth requires sup port - announced Marko Čadež, President of the Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Serbia.

NALED: STATE AID TO THE ECONOMY LACKED FOCUS

Jelena Rančić, NALED’s advisor for regulatory reforms stated that the extent of the crisis caused by the coronavirus outbreak, which penetrated all world’s economies, is estimated to be equal to the extent of the financial crisis in 2008, and maybe even greater.

The success of the state’s measures does not depend merely on the size of the aid package but also the duration of the crisis, and the recovery from the current crisis is not expected to start before mid-2021. They lacked focus which was to be expected for the first package of aid measures due to their urgency, but probably such focus should have been felt in the second package. There was more time for analyses and the adoption of measures for specific industries - Jelena Rančić pointed out. Her position is backed up by Željko Tomić, President of the NALED’s e-Government Alliance.

In his opinion, the advantage of these measures lies in the fast Government’s response, however, he believes that the money should have gone to those who are hardest hit by the crisis i.e. those who need it the most.

MALI: DIRECT GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES FOR CITY HOTEL OWNERS

City hotels will get direct government subsidies of 350 euros per bed and 150 euros per room, which is a new measure and the first one aimed at mitigating the effects which the coronavirus crisis had on the hotel industry. – Out of 380 categorised city hotels in our country, only 112 of them are now open for business. In Belgrade, only 42 out of 115 hotels are open with an occupancy rate of 10%.

The hotel owners will receive the funds late in September or no later than the first week of October, with the only requirement for using this state aid being that no more than 10% of employees are dismissed - said Minister Mali, adding that the state had already provided two aid packages for the businesses, which were also used by the tourism industry, and that this aid package was specifically targeting this industry.

EU: WE WILL HELP CAMPSITES, BOARDING HOUSES, WINERIES, BEEKEEPERS...

Thanks to the EU For You Project, small and micro companies, family businesses, agricul tural households and companies across 12 cities and municipalities in eastern and southeast Serbia were granted a million euros for the implementation of 120 projects in tourism aimed at eliminating the consequences of the pandemic.

Thanks to this EU project, the funds will be received by the hardest-hit entrepreneurs in the tourism industry to help them improve their offers for tourists. The majority of future users of the grant, amounting to 10,000 euros per project, are in the business of providing private accommodation for tourists (52 entrepreneurs). This support will also include camps, restaurants and providers of various restaurant and food services, boarding houses, hotels, hostels, travel agencies, wineries and commercial beekeepers.