Extreme Makeover: Belgrade Edition
Just the short of it…
- The Old City and Belgrade Waterfront are undergoing major reconstruction projects to both sustain and grow the number of tourists
- In spite of all the reconstruction, Belgrade feels like a metropolitan European city with a vibrant nightlife and coffee shops that look like they are straight out of SF’s Mission. The food scene could use a little love, but once the hipster coffee shops are in, I feel confident the hipster food scene will follow
- The impact of tourism extend beyond the physical to the personal — my tour guide is an ex-educator who left the classroom to earn 4–5x more as a guide
- Serbia continues to recover from the Yugoslav Wars, which were rarely discussed, even though they are a part of Serbia’s recent past; this is likely due to the atrocities Serbia committed against the other Balkan countries during the wars (you can learn more here)
Extreme Makeover: Belgrade Edition
Belgrade has seen 130 battles and been razed and rebuilt 44 times. It was the only city in World War II to be bombed by both the Nazis and the Allies. Though Belgrade hasn’t seen a battle in the last 20 years, it’s undergoing yet another substantial reconstruction. Both the main plaza, Republik Square, and the Belgrade Waterfront are being redone. Imagine if Union Square and the Embarcadero in San Francisco or La Place de la Concorde and the bank of the Seine were redone all at the same time!
The Belgrade Waterfront in particular has sparked some serious controversy. Several years ago, the government decided to outsource the construction to Eagle Hills, an Abu Dhabi-based firm that also built the tallest building in the world. All in, it’s a $4bn project that Mohamed Alabbar, founder of Eagle Hills, is paying out of pocket. The Waterfront will consist of hotels, luxury apartments, and shopping malls — likely outpricing most Serbians, and at the same time, destroying the local neighborhoods that existed there.
At first glance, this might have seemed like a good deal for Serbians — they get an entirely new waterfront, including the influx of jobs to build it, without the cost. associated with such a project. But Serbians don’t need more luxury condos or shopping malls, and there’s a belief that the contract was granted in an opaque and corrupt way. There wasn’t a bidding process and Serbian architects weren’t invited to take part. In response, Serbians have staged a series of massive protests boycotting the decision. In spite of public outcry, construction is still underway and the entire waterfront is being transformed into a central plaza.
In addition to construction in the main plazas, there are a ton of hostels and hotels being built in the Old City. Airbnb has also taken root, and much like the more popular Barcelona, Belgrade’s Airbnbs are driving up the cost of real estate in the Old City and pushing many Serbians to New Belgrade or beyond.
The impacts of tourism extend beyond the cosmetic to the human. My guide, Nemanja, studied 20th century history and wrote his Master’s dissertation on Chernobyl (yes, we discussed the HBO show, with which he has some qualms).
In Serbia, there is a lack of well-paying jobs for those with higher education, leading many of Nemanja’s peers to move abroad. In fact, Money Exchange offices are to Belgrade what Starbucks is to New York because of how reliant the economy is on remittances). Nemanja remained in Belgrade and became a history teacher, and similar to educators in America, found the pay too low and the pressure too high. About four years ago, his friend suggested that Nemanja look into becoming a tour guide and now he makes 4–5x his previous income and works better hours. Much like the US, trying to keep talented and highly educated teachers in the classroom is a serious challenge.
Overall, Serbia’s economy continues to recover from the Yugoslav War. Belgrade feels like a metropolitan European city with a great nightlife (I got a taste of the hip-hop scene which was a blast) and coffee shops that look like they are straight out of SF’s Mission neighborhood.
Tourism revenue has been steadily rising over the past 10 years and grew 16.8% in 2017. Though this makes up a small percent of overall GDP (2.3% as of 2017), it continues be an increasingly large part of the overall economy. Some of the other Balkans countries, like Bosnia, have not so easily bounced back from the atrocities committed by Serbia during the war. The Yugoslav Wars are an essential part of Serbia’s history and yet rarely talked about when you visit. You can read more about what occurred here.
Overall, tourism remains a relatively small part of the national economy, but the impacts are palpable in Belgrade, whether that’s the physical — a city under reconstruction to sustain and entice an increasing tourist population — or the human — providing an alternative for educated workers to leave the classroom where they are underpaid.
Next stop! Uzbekistan and the Silk Road cities of Bukhara and Samarkand.
