THE IMPORTANCE OF ECOTOURISM FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM DESTINATION – A CASE STUDY OF THE SPECIAL NATURE RESERVE “MEADOWS OF GREAT BUSTARD“, VOJVODINA

Tourism in protected natural areas (PNAs) has an important and very positive role in the tourism development of many countries.Whether the area of the Special Nature Reserve "Meadows of Great Bustard" (SNR) represents a significant potential for the development of tourism will be concluded in this paper by using two scientific methods.The obtained results from a conducted written questionnaire, as the first method, will be examined by a comparative analysis with related or the same results from the world practice research -the second method.This is the main task in this research.The obtained results can examine the main hypothesis that the SNR is a significant tourism potential for ecotourism both at the level of the Republic of Serbia and at the level of the countries in the region, such as Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as other European countries.The main objective of this paper is to test the main hypothesis and to obtain certain results if this protected area may have an impact on the development of sustainable tourism.By enhancing sustainable tourism and protecting the space of this reserve, by implementing the national tourism offer, higher socio-cultural, economic and ecological benefits can be achieved.The results of this research indicate that forms of tourism such as: ecotourism, science tourism, trips, bird and animal watching, can be a basic form of tourist visits.The most significant potential of the SNR is the highly endangered species of the Great Bustard (Otis tarda), which is the symbol of this protected area.