Uncontrolled development of mass tourism has led to the over-exploitation of tourism resources in a short period of time. By insisting solely on the economic effects of development, tourism has irreversibly degraded and to a certain extent ‘exhausted’ resources and attractiveness of destinations, thereby leading to their stagnation, and ultimately, to a decline in tourism activities in many destinations. By introducing the concept of sustainable tourism development, tourism analysis extends to other effects that tourism development produces in a given area, primarily the environmental, social and cultural ones. The paper analyses the achieved level of development of tourism in mountain destinations in the Republic of Serbia by using the comparative indicators of sustainable tourism applied in the EU countries. The results of the research indicate that the development of tourism in mountain destinations of the Republic of Serbia does not fully comply with sustainable development. In this respect, the paper provides specific recommendations on how to make tourism sustainable and therefore implement acceptable long-term concept of development of mountain destinations.

Rural tourism supports the linking of the economic, social and environmental development elements, while boosting employment and stepping up rural development This paper aims to assess the importance of rural tourism in terms of the economic and rural development in the Republic of Serbia. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the values referring to the number of registered tourist arrivals and overnight stays per region. According to the research findings, the region of Šumadija and Western Serbia has the largest number of rural households and also records the highest number of tourist arrivals and overnight stays. In developed countries, the tourism industry strongly supports the agricultural sector by creating new jobs and contributing to the overall economic development, however, the situation is quite different in Serbia. Furthermore, considering the EU, where the rural areas cover a large part of the overall territory, it is exactly the rural areas that account for a significant number of overnight stays and accommodation facilities.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the main problems related to the sustainable development of rural communities, as well as the possible solutions to overcome them. This paper uses an analytical and synthetic approach, method of comparison and analogy, and descriptive analysis. The starting point of the research is actually a brief overview of the current situation in rural Serbia, while the central part of the paper presents an analysis concerning the development of the rural economy in the representative villages of Grabovica and Ribare in the Republic of Serbia. Research results are given in the form of specific guidelines for a new approach to local rural development and strengthening the role and responsibilities of local government in the development process. The main conclusion that follows from the results of the research is that continued and constant work is needed in order to empower local communities to take responsibility for their own development, as well as to support local initiatives to this end.

The need for a modern agricultural development conditioned the concept of multifunctionality of agriculture. Multifunctionality of agriculture is often considered as a useful tool for achieving economic and sustainable development goals. It is increasingly gaining importance in the field of sustainable rural development by linking traditional and contemporary agricultural functions. Namely, sustainability of development requires food for people, but also other positive social, ecological and economic effects. The aim of this paper is to identify the most important indicators of agriculture from the point of multifunctionality of agriculture as a factor for sustainable rural development of the Republic of Serbia, and also compare rural indicators of the Western Balkan countries. The multivariate linear regression in the paper showed that more indicators of agriculture have impact on economy than on sustainable development of the Republic of Serbia, with particularly significance of rural population and its activity. Thereby, some statistical tests showed a decrease in rural population and employment in agriculture of the Western Balkan countries. It is concluded that support to multifunctionality of agriculture is of particular importance for sustainable rural development of the Republic of Serbia.

Agriculture is of great importance in developing countries, and in the Western Balkans it has a large share in economic development and employment, but with a tendency to decline. The subject of the paper refers to the review of the current state of agriculture in the Western Balkans, while the goal is to point out the possibilities of improvement and development of both agriculture and other non-agricultural activities in rural areas, with the aim of diversifying activities and reducing dependence on the primary sector. OLS panel regression showed a negative impact of dependence on agriculture, in terms of participation in GDP and employment, on economic development, while a positive impact was established for agricultural production and export of agricultural products. The Kruskall-Wallis' test showed that the Republic of Serbia is still highly dependent on agriculture compared to other countries of Western Balkans, which is why multifunctional agriculture and diversification of activities should be developed in order to reduce the share of agriculture in GDP and employment. On the other hand, the Republic of Serbia is the leader in the region in terms of agricultural production and export, so it is necessary to work on improving production through the introduction of modern technologies and production methods, so that agricultural products become more competitive on the international market, which would encourage export growth and economic development.