DYNAMIC PRICING: THEORY OR A REALITY FOR EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDY OF SERBIA

The Serbian tourism market follows international trends when it comes to the increasing number of participants in international travels. In addition, over the past 5 years, the growth rates in the tourism industry have been higher than global and European average [26, pp. 180- 192], [28]. Along with the increased number in arrivals and overnight stays, a dynamic growth in the number of hotels has also been recorded, whereby corporate hotel chains stand out in particular [20, pp. 33-56]. Although growth rates indicate a rapid development of tourism in Serbia, it should be noted that contribution that travel and tourism have to the country’s GDP remains low. Serbia was ranked 107th globally out of 185 countries in WTTC report for 2018. The economic impact that tourism has on the local economy was estimated at 2.3% directly to GDP and 6.7% of total contribution to GDP, which is still significantly lower that global average (direct 3.2% and total 10.7%) [31]. Yet, growth rates, and stronger competition in Serbia has led to substantial improvements in the supply, particularly when considering quality of accommodation and services [16, pp. 245-258]. However, the Serbian economy is lagging behind in digital transformation in regards to the countries of the European Union [5, pp. 19-41]. This is extremely important as information and communication technology has already been identified as the key of hotel’s competitiveness, and since the new generation of travellers will have radically different requests and demands from hotels [20, pp. 33-56], [24, pp. 151-156]. Several recommendations for Serbian digital transformation have already been presented, one of which is the wider absorption and diffusion of technology [25, pp. 107-119]. Globally, hotels were one of the early adopters of technology in general, and even quicker adopters of revenue management systems in particular [30, pp. 178-190]. Yet, it remains unclear to what extent hotels in emerging markets have implemented technology in their daily operations, as well as how strongly they rely on technology as one of the keys for strategic and sustainable development.