Serbia’s services sector recorded mixed results at the start of 2026, with tourism, aviation, rail passenger transport, urban mobility and parcel delivery showing growth, while road freight, inland waterways, postal letters and fixed telecommunications continued to weaken.
- Hospitality Revenues Grow with Stronger Southern Performance
- Rail and Air Passenger Transport Record Growth
- Freight Transport Weakens as River Cargo Declines
- Rail Logistics and Cargo Handling Show Diverging Trends
- Cross-Border Mobility Favors Private Vehicles and Imports
- Communications Market Shifts Toward Mobile and Parcel Services
Tourism activity increased during the January-April period, with the number of arrivals rising 8% year on year and overnight stays growing 5.8%. Domestic tourism remained an important contributor, with domestic arrivals increasing 10.4% and domestic overnight stays rising 6.8%. Regional tourism trends showed growth in both parts of the country. Northern Serbia recorded a 6.6% increase in arrivals and a 7.4% rise in overnight stays, while southern Serbia registered 9.3% more arrivals and 4.6% more overnight stays.
Hospitality Revenues Grow with Stronger Southern Performance
Seasonally adjusted tourism data showed continued expansion. Overnight stays during the first quarter were 4.7% higher than a year earlier. Domestic overnight stays increased 4%, while foreign overnight stays rose 5.5%. By January-April, seasonally adjusted cumulative data showed domestic and foreign overnight stays both increasing within a range of 4.5% to 4.7%. Hospitality sector turnover increased 16% in nominal terms and 10.5% in real terms during the first four months of the year.
Southern Serbia recorded stronger growth than the north, with real hospitality turnover increasing 18.2% compared with 6.4% in northern Serbia. Mountain, spa and regional destinations contributed to higher spending growth, while northern Serbia continued to include Belgrade’s international business and city tourism market.
Rail and Air Passenger Transport Record Growth
Passenger transport volume increased 2.1% during the first quarter, although the number of transported passengers declined slightly by 0.3% to 14.09 million. Passenger-kilometres decreased 0.6% to 2.17 billion, reflecting different trends between transport modes. Rail passenger services recorded the strongest improvement. Passenger numbers increased 25% to 2.16 million, while passenger-kilometres rose 30.4% to 146 million.
Road passenger transport moved in the opposite direction. Passenger numbers declined 4.3% to 11.12 million, while passenger-kilometres fell 8.2% to 929 million. Urban public transport remained positive, carrying 247.77 million passengers, an increase of 2.4%. Bus journeys increased 2.8% to 214.91 million, while tram and trolleybus usage remained largely unchanged. Belgrade accounted for approximately 206 million urban passenger journeys, representing more than four-fifths of Serbia’s recorded urban transport activity.
Air transport continued to expand. Serbian airports handled 1.85 million passengers in the first quarter, up 10.2% year on year. International departures increased 9.4%, arrivals grew 11.1%, and foreign airlines transported 14.8% more passengers, reflecting stronger international connectivity and increased activity from overseas carriers.
Freight Transport Weakens as River Cargo Declines
Goods transport recorded weaker results compared with passenger services. Serbia transported 10.79 million tonnes of goods, a decrease of 0.9%, while tonne-kilometres declined 2.1% to 3.53 billion. Rail freight showed mixed results. Freight tonnage increased 4.8%, but rail tonne-kilometres declined 2.7%.
Road freight volumes decreased 1%, while transport work declined 1.8%. Pipeline transport remained broadly stable. The largest contraction came from inland waterway transport. River freight tonnage declined 12.2%, while tonne-kilometres decreased 4%. Separate goods-traffic data showed river exports falling 22.8%, domestic traffic declining 13.1%, imports decreasing 3.4%, and transit traffic falling 20.5%. The decline in inland shipping affected transport activity relevant to bulk commodities, agriculture, construction materials and energy products.
Rail Logistics and Cargo Handling Show Diverging Trends
Rail goods traffic increased 10.4% to 2.13 million tonnes, driven mainly by stronger imports. Imported rail cargo increased 29.5%, while export cargo declined 4.8% and transit traffic dropped 21.4%. The railway system handled more incoming goods while export and transit flows weakened.
Cargo handling activity increased despite lower overall freight volumes. Terminals processed 1.78 million tonnes, up 10%, while operational handling volume increased 12.9% to 2.67 million tonnes.
Cross-Border Mobility Favors Private Vehicles and Imports
International passenger movements increased during the period. Passenger-car entries rose 4.8% to 1.64 million, while exits increased 2.1%. Bus movements declined, indicating that growth in cross-border mobility was concentrated more in private vehicles and air transport rather than international passenger bus services.
Freight vehicle movements linked to exports decreased 0.7%, while import-related freight vehicle movements increased 1.2%. The trend corresponded with broader transport data showing stronger import activity and weaker export-oriented road and transit movements.
Communications Market Shifts Toward Mobile and Parcel Services
Telecommunications continued its transition away from traditional fixed networks. Fixed-line call minutes declined 12.8% to 307 million, while mobile-call minutes increased 2.4% to 5.21 billion. SMS traffic grew 17.4% to 938 million messages, and MMS usage increased 37.4%, although from a significantly smaller base.
Postal services showed a similar shift toward digital and delivery-based demand. Letter mail volumes declined 4.3%, while payment operations decreased 3%. At the same time, parcel volumes increased 13.3%, and express shipments rose 8.2% to 14.09 million, reflecting stronger demand from e-commerce and business delivery services.
