According to the concept of authenticity, competitiveness of a tourist destination depends on the complex interdependence of numerous destination components and their interaction with the visitors of the destination. The global standard for measuring competitiveness of countries is the TTC Index of the World Economic Forum, the ranking list where Serbia holds a relatively weak position. This position has been cyclically improving and deteriorating, and opposite trends of indicators within individual sub-indices also contribute to this, suggesting that activities are uncoordinated. The Tourism Development Strategy of Serbia (TDS), as an umbrella document to coordinate efforts to develop and improve the competitiveness of Serbian tourism, identifies priority products and destinations in Serbia. Such established priorities should contribute both to the coordination among key stakeholders and, consequently, to competitiveness in the international market. The analysis conducted in this paper indicates that TDS has only partially identified the products and destinations chosen by visitors.

Contemporary destination management implies a broader mandate that has shifted the focus from traditional marketing and promotional activities to strategic planning, coordination, and management activities, integrating various stakeholders with a common goal. However, environmental influences, especially negative ones, to which tourism is highly susceptible, as shown by practice in recent years, also affect the overall destination management process. The integration of crisis management into the destination management process assumes that specific procedures exist, adequate task forces are organised, and all necessary resources are recognized, planned and activated at the onset of the crisis. Recent experiences have shown that destinations like Serbia, which failed to establish a destination management system, face much more significant challenges regarding crisis management in tourism. Given that we are increasingly living in the so-called VUCA environment, tourism crisis management is exposed to unique challenges and requires special skills and leadership that will be activated in risky moments. In addition, it is essential to establish institutions with clearly defined tasks and capacities because only the synergy of skills and knowledge, on the one hand, and institutions (structures) will enable successful crisis management in tourism.