Abstract—In today’s world, leisure time is supposed to be a happy, satisfactory time when one fulfills their needs. Traveling is an especially significant aspect of leisure time. The aim of this study is to identify the basic ways of spending leisure time of Serbian residents, with a focus on their traveling habits, on a sample of 257 respondents. The task of the study is to examine the level of Internet utilization when inquiring about tourist destination, tourist organizations and accommodation capacities and to determine the significance of Internet in making decisions when traveling. The research results have shown that lack of funds is the limiting factor in satisfying the need for traveling for Serbian residents. The Republic of Serbia is a country rich with natural and anthropogenic resources and tourism development in Serbia would enhance spending leisure time and satisfying people’s needs to travel. Considering the research results which show that Internet content and the tourist, travel organizers’ and accommodation capacity offer affect choosing a specific tourist offer. In order to advertise its tourism in the future, The Republic of Serbia should improve its offer by using the advantages of the information technology, primarily Internet.

Index Terms—Internet, leisure time, Serbia, travel habits.

Ana Jovičić, Anđelija Ivkov-Džigurski, Tatjana Pivac, Marko D. Petrović,and Snježana Gagić are with the Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, 21000Novi Sad, Serbia (e-mail: ana.jovicic@ fondmt.rs, ivkova@ gmail.com,tatjana.pivac@dgt.uns.ac.rs, marko.d.petrovic@uns.ac.rs,gagicsnjeza@yahoo.com).

Cite: Ana Jovičić, Anđelija Ivkov-Džigurski, Tatjana Pivac, Marko D. Petrović, and Snježana Gagić, "Why Should Internet Utilization in Travel Industry Really Matter? Case of Serbia," International Journal of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning vol. 2, no. 6, pp. 460-464, 2012.