Digitalization represents a key driver of the transformation of modern economic systems towards the circular economy model, which is based on the rational use of resources and waste reduction. In the context of managing food bio-waste in the hospitality industry, digital tools enable more efficient planning, monitoring, and optimization of processes. The implementation of technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), big data analytics, and digital platforms contributes to precise measurement of waste quantities, identification of causes, and reduction of food surpluses through automated management of procurement and meal preparation. Tools such as Winnow and Leanpath have demonstrated that digitalization can reduce food waste in hospitality facilities by up to 40%, bringing both economic and environmental benefits. In addition to improving sustainability and competitiveness, digitalization fosters greater awareness among employees regarding the responsible use of resources. Therefore, the integration of digital solutions into the circular economy system of hotels and restaurants represents an important step toward reducing the ecological footprint and achieving sustainable development goals.

Green human resources management (GHRM) is becoming increasingly important for improving ecological sustainability, especially in the agri-environmental sector, but its application and effect are still under-researched. Because of this, this study investigates the perception and impact of GHRM practices in the agro-ecological sector in the Republic of Serbia using a mixed-methods approach. For this purpose, data were collected from 203 respondents from the public and private sectors, while quantitative data were analysed using the NVivo coding method and thematic mapping. Applied descriptive statistics, t-test and regression show that agri-environmental private organisations are more integrated with GHRM than public organisations (t=2.98; p<0.01). The results of regression analysis significantly confirm environmentally oriented behaviour of employees (beta=0.632; p<0.001), explaining 46.8% of variance. Nvivo analysis extracts the six main thematic fields: green recruitment, training, performance appraisal, awarding, organisational culture, and outcomes. The results indicate strong dedication of organisations to environmental responsibility and highlight the importance of a qualitative and quantitative approach toward sustainable-oriented human resources management in the agri-environmental sector in Serbia.

This study examines the practice and application of Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) in environmental protection institutions in the Republic of Serbia. The research was conducted using a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews. Ten respondents from the Ministry of Environmental Protection, as well as environmental protection institutions and organizations, participated in the study. The collected data were analyzed using thematic analysis in NVivo, through which five main themes were identified: (1) green recruitment and selection, (2) environmental training and employee development, (3) motivation and reward systems, (4) organizational culture and leadership, and (5) institutional barriers. The results indicate that management staff generally support the integration of sustainable practices into human resource management, particularly within environmental institutions. However, several barriers remain, including limited funding and the lack of environmentally focused training programs. The findings contribute to a better understanding of the importance of GHRM as a strategic tool for strengthening environmental responsibility within institutions and organizations.

The paper analyzes agri-environmental indicators of EUcountries from 2017 to 2023 to assess progress towardsustainable agriculture. Using descriptive statistics,principal component analysis (PCA), and a compositeindex, it identifies key sustainability dimensions and ranksEU countries by performance. Results indicate reducedagricultural greenhouse gas emissions, growth in renewableenergy production, and expansion of organic farmingareas. However, pesticide sales and related environmentalrisks remain high, highlighting ongoing dependence onchemical inputs. PCA reveals two main components: thefirst reflects energy and agricultural sustainability, whilethe second captures ecological risks linked to pesticideuse and emissions. The composite index shows cleardisparities among EU countries—some have advanced,while others lag behind the EU average. Findings suggestthat EU agricultural policy should intensify pesticidereduction efforts while continuing to promote renewableenergy and organic farming initiatives.

ABSTRACTSince ancient times numerous, aromatic and medicinal herbs have been commonly used for the production of various herbal beverages. The effect of yellow gentian (Gentiana lutea) and saline wormwood (Artemisia santonicum) on the qualitative and quantitative composition of the volatile compounds and the sensory properties of the Serbian traditional plum brandy (“slivovitz”) was investigated. Simultaneously, similar commercial alcoholic beverages obtained from the local market have been researched for comparison. Eighty‐nine volatile compounds were detected by GC–MS analysis in tested herbal spirits. More than 30% of detected volatile compounds belong to esters, whereas fatty acid esters contributed to the flavour with pleasant fruity and floral notes. The addition of A. santonicum improved the complexity of volatile profiles, with the main contribution of ketones. On the other hand, the phenylethyl alcohol, typical for its pleasant odour, was exclusively detected in samples enriched by yellow gentian. Saline wormwood contains compounds of a higher influence on lightness compared to the gentian root, whose compounds have increased the red colour intensity of the alcoholic product. The volatile compounds of yellow gentian and saline wormwood enriched the sensory properties of alcohol spirits, both contributing to the fruity aroma, with differences in spicy and herbal aroma, respectively. Extractible compounds of the studied herbs increased the complexity of the volatile profile, which significantly improved the aroma of herbal spirits. Selected herbs, already known for their traditional ethnomedicinal uses in the Balkans, could be considered as valuable material for production of functional beverages of attractive sensory traits.

Regenerative tourism represents a step beyond sustainability. It involves returning to traditional knowledge, reviving cultural aspects, fostering symbiosis with local communities, and leaving places in a better state than they were found by tourists. This type of tourism encourages green and biodiversity-focused businesses to adopt regenerative practices. Ethnobotanical knowledge and practice – through the use, conservation, and management of plants by local people – are closely aligned with the principles of regenerative tourism. Ethnobotany and tourism share a strong interrelationship, particularly in the context of sustainable tourism, ecotourism, nature-based tourism, cultural tourism, health and wellness, gastronomy, and education. In this context, the research aimed to identify the most important categories of plants used in regenerative tourism, as well as specific species of interest. Using the method of standard ethnobotanical questionnaires, a study was conducted among tourists, and the Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC) of certain plant species was calculated. The results of the research indicate which plant species attract the greatest interest from tourists, depending on their usage category (edible plants- Allium ursinum (wild garlic), Urtica dioica (nettle), and species from the Rumex genus (sorrel); medicinal plants- such as Thymus spp. (thyme), Geranium spp. (geranium), and Taraxacum officinale (dandelion); there is also interest in plants with ritual significance, such as Laserpitium siler, as well as endemic species like Ramonda spp.). These findings point to a significant potential for the touristic valorization of natural destinations through gastronomy, botanical tourism, education, biodiversity interpretation, and the development of thematic trails dedicated to specific plant species. The findings also highlight the importance of preventing the loss of traditional knowledge and biocultural heritage, while emphasizing local authenticity.

Regenerative tourism is a new approach that seeks to establish and foster a symbi-otic relationship between humans and nature based on the use of nature's ecosys-tem services (ESs) for people's improved quality of life and general wellbeing while promoting human contributions to the natural environment for the benefit of all. This research focuses on ESs as indicators of latent tendencies in the transformation from sustainable to regenerative tourism. The research was conducted in two cycles over a period of 11 years. The Participatory Rural Appraisal method (PRA) was used to gather information and local stakeholders' views concerning Serbia's Golija-Studenica Biosphere Reserve. Ninety-nine tourists were also interviewed face-to-face regarding their interests and demands. The research method included a Relative Frequency Citation index (RFC), which identified the ESs that respondents considered most important. The local stakeholders were unanimous in accentuating the impor-tance of providing ESs that bring economic value, while tourists focused more on regulating or supporting cultural services. Our research methodology may serve as a benchmark for studies in other mountain tourism destinations and communities that are investigating developments towards regenerative tourism.

Searching for rural, intact areas out of cities during the COVID-19 crisis, tourists brought renewed interest in consuming traditional food based on wild edible herbs/natural products. Increased interest in local herbal potentials could be a driving force in modelling rural destinations to enrich food tourism offers and provide a new experience. This study aimed to assess the relevance of ethnobotany and traditional knowledge on wild herbs utilization with a focus on increased demand for natural products as a basis for future food tourism offer creation in rural areas. By applying free-listed observations and semi-structured ethnobotanical interview approach data were obtained (n = 169) and quantitatively analyzed using indices of Relative Frequency Citation (RFC), Use Value (UV) and Pearson Correlation Coefficient (PCC). The final results were visualized using the Venn diagram and DIVA-GIS. The results indicate subtle transformation in food tourism demands and new trends in nutrition based on 34 species divided into 7 functional groups along the geographic gradient. Traditional food systems through reviving ethnobotanical knowledge and practices should be a matter of future food tourism management.

Despite the valuable economic benefits of tourism, it must be highlighted that the tourism industry is an important source of stress for the environment with the main influence on tourist destinations. The aim of this study is to investigate the elements of environmental sustainability in tourism as key factors in the competitiveness of tourism using entropy methods. According to the authors’ knowledge, it is the first time that the entropy model applied to Environmental sustainability indicators, regarding entropy as a measure of non-uniformity among sustainability indicators of EU countries. The data of the EU were used and Environmental sustainability pillar of the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index. The results show that the total entropy of the competitiveness of tourism within the environmental sustainability sub-index of the EU countries speaks in favor of the uniformity of the indicators. The study also reveals significant differences among the EU27 in the domain of the Global Climate Risk index, Baseline water stress and Forest cover loss. Furthermore, convergence has been achieved so far in the indicators Red List Index and Environmental treaty ratification. Finally, the methodological approach of this study has the potential to be extrapolated worldwide, especially in the future era of global environmental problems.

Despite the valuable economic benefits of tourism, it must be highlighted that the tourism industry is an important source of stress for the environment with the main influence on tourist destinations. The aim of this study is to investigate the elements of environmental sustainability in tourism as key factors in the competitiveness of tourism using entropy methods. According to the authors’ knowledge, it is the first time that the entropy model applied to Environmental sustainability indicators, regarding entropy as a measure of non-uniformity among sustainability indicators of EU countries. The data of the EU were used and Environmental sustainability pillar of the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index. The results show that the total entropy of the competitiveness of tourism within the environmental sustainability sub-index of the EU countries speaks in favor of the uniformity of the indicators. The study also reveals significant differences among the EU27 in the domain of the Global Climate Risk index, Baseline water stress and Forest cover loss. Furthermore, convergence has been achieved so far in the indicators Red List Index and Environmental treaty ratification. Finally, the methodological approach of this study has the potential to be extrapolated worldwide, especially in the future era of global environmental problems.

Recent studies indicate a decennial decline in wild edible plant resources consumption and use in traditional cuisine, while Covid-19 reversed this situation in the last two years into increased demands for well-rooted traditional products.By using the literary potential of wild edible plants in gastronomy and semi-structured interviews (n-29) in affirmed rural tourist households, research investigate 1) the diversity of wild edible plants proven in gastronomy, 2) the diversity of plants that are currently used in the preparation of traditional dishes and 3) an experimental tourism model was conducted to evaluate the relationship between wild edible plants and tourism-related cultural ecosystem services.The results show limited plant diversity patterns used as traditional food components compared to natural resource potentials.In the range of cultural ecosystem services, results indicate the variety of categories in which wild edible plants represent the catalyst of local eco-gastro tourism improvements through the authentic sense of gastronomy, herbal tours, rare species, etc.

The ethnobotanical studies provide a generalized survey of ethnobotanical knowledge, traditional practices, and plant species utilization using by humans a range of provisioning ecosystem services, referring dominantly to rural and less to urban settlements. This study aims to answer the question of whether traditional ethnobotanical knowledge is applied in urban areas in the context of the selection and utilization of medicinal, aromatic, and wild edible plant species. The research was conducted in the urban area of the city of Kragujevac (central Serbia) in the period from May to October 2021. Data collection was performed "in situ" using semi-structured ethnobotanical face-to-face interviews with 43 respondents. The total number of finally selected plant species reported by respondents was 24. They were classified according to their purpose of use as medicinal, food, and ornamental. Herein, the analyzed urban population mostly utilized plant species for edible purposes.

This study represents a comparative analysis of secondary metabolites content, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activity of 24 halophytes from coastal saline habitats of the Balkan Peninsula (Montenegro, Albania, and Greece). Total content of phenolics, flavonoids, tannins, anthocyanins, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activity was determined for dry methanolic (DME) and crude water extracts (CWE) and compared with well-known medicinal plants. The total phenolic content ranged from 13.23 to 376.08 mg of GA/g of DME, and from 33.68 to 511.10 mg/mL of CWE. The content of flavonoids ranged from 12.63 to 77.36 mg of RU/g of DME, and from 12.13 to 26.35 mg/mL of CWE. Total tannins and anthocyanins varied from 0.05 to 2.44 mg/mL, and from 1.31 to 39.81 µg/L, respectively. The antioxidant activity ranged from 1147.68 to 15.02 µg/mL for DME and from 1613.05 to 21.96 µg/mL for CWE. The best antioxidant properties, and the highest content of phenolic compounds, were determined for Polygonum maritimum and Limonium vulgare with values similar to or higher compared to the medicinal plants. Halophytes with significant antimicrobial potential were Limonium vulgare, L. angustifolium, and Artemisia maritima. Some of the analyzed coastal halophytes can be considered rich natural sources of phenolic compounds, with favorable antioxidative and antimicrobial properties.

Despite the valuable economic benefits of tourism, it must be highlighted that the tourism industry is an important source of stress for the environment with the main influence on tourist destinations. The aim of this study is to investigate the elements of environmental sustainability in tourism as key factors in the competitiveness of tourism using entropy methods. According to the authors' knowledge, it is the first time that the entropy model applied to Environmental sustainability indicators, regarding entropy as a measure of non-uniformity among sustainability indicators of EU countries. The data of the EU were used and Environmental sustainability pillar of the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index. The results show that the total entropy of the competitiveness of tourism within the environmental sustainability sub-index of the EU countries speaks in favor of the uniformity of the indicators. The study also reveals significant differences among the EU27 in the domain of the Global Climate Risk index, Baseline water stress and Forest cover loss. Furthermore, convergence has been achieved so far in the indicators Red List Index and Environmental treaty ratification. Finally, the methodological approach of this study has the potential to be extrapolated world-wide, especially in the future era of global environmental problems.

Tourism is the industry most affected by the pandemic. However, one form of tourism most successfully "swam" in the flood that hit the tourism industry. It is rural tourism. In this paper, the aim is to assess the capacity and occupancy of rural tourism in EU countries and selected candidates. In order to assess the set goal, the evaluation of tourism in rural areas is analyzed through indicators such as: (1) number of facilities, bedrooms and beds in tourist accommodation, (2) nights in rural tourist accommodation (absolute number) and (3) nights in rural tourist accommodation (relative number). Special emphasis is placed on the time period before the pandemic and the time period after the pandemic. The results show a slight reaching of the level from 2019.

Two years after Covid-19 outbreak, the trend of local movements in ecologically clean areas is continuing. Parallel with searching for nature, tourists renew old, almost forgotten, traditional nature-inspired recipes. This study investigates tourists’ attitudes towards natural areas, interest in natural products experiences and their preference to renovate traditional healthy food products and to be included in future food tourism offers. The study includes standard and ethnobotanical interviews aimed to show the stronger connection between tourists and nature compared to the previous period and its intention to mitigate and adapt to Covid-19 challenges. The results show continuous changes in tourist perspective related to nature and natural food products in general. The results were compared with previous research and show that tourists are still interested in natural boosters through natural food, staying in nature, and active involvement in natural product collecting, however, the focus has shifted from traditional medicinal plants to edible ones.

Continental halophytic grasslands are known for performing of range of ecosystem services especially remarkable in the regions where they are much distributed – in arid and semi-arid areas. Continental halophytic grasslands of the Central and South-East Europe are not considered as favourable for arable farming, however, traditional animal husbandry plays a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity and preserving these natural habitats. The particular interest of this study is the assessment of the chemical composition of biomass and the quality of insufficiently studied halophytic grassland communities of the central Balkans. In addition, the differences in pastoral value were monitored along the geographical gradient, i.e., between grasslands situated in the Pannonian plain (grasslands of Alliance Puccinellion limosae) and those distributed on the south Serbia (Alliance Festucion pseudovinae). The study was carried out at 18 representative sites, focusing on the saline grasslands of the two distinct regions – on the north and on the south of Serbia. The obtained results show that the halophytic grasslands have satisfying quality characteristics (average values: dry matter - 93.67%, crude protein - 8.66%, cellulose - 30.36%, crude fat - 2.27%) compared with other studied grasslands of saline habitats. There were no significant differences in quality and chemical composition of grasslands of the two regions, despite differences in floristic composition, indicating that salinity is the key determinant for pastoral value of the halophytic vegetation. The certain variations were attributed to the specific floristic composition related to ecological conditions and halophytic community characteristics.

Rural space, protected areas, and nature in general become so-called "hot spots" in the tourist perspective in the last two years.The covid-19 outbreak caused growing commercial tourism to have a tendency to transform and go a step far from sustainability to regenerative directions.These changes consider "to rebuild", "renew", and "getting back to tradition and roots" where ecosystem services and wild plants in focused.In recent times, several studies of tourists' behaviors and attitudes towards utilization and interest in wild edible plants have been conducted.This study represents the results of research conducted on 53 tourists and 20 local touristic households in the Biosphere "Golija-Studenica" to explore relationships between wild edible plants utilization/collection and the tourism experience.According to the results, there is an increased interest or demand for wild edible plants by tourists and local people.On the one hand, these demands are the result of long traditions and on the other hand the increased desire for healthy food.Different socio-demographic backgrounds of tourists impact their environmental awareness, knowledge and education on goods and services from nature.This study highlights the need to fulfil ecological responsibility when tourism occurs in ecologically worth areas to achieve bicultural conservation and regenerative approach.

Current food biotechnology trends and final gastronomic products in recent times include unusual exotic plants as bases, salads, side dishes or drinks. Considering these trends halophytes could be potentially positioned as a novel source of gastronomic products and bioactive compounds. Many halophytes are used as food, fodder or medicinal plants. In the Serbia is one countries with well developed halophytic flora. This article aimed to investigate the place of halophytes in actual traditional utilization and make a list of species suitable for food preparation with confirmed use and nutritional value comparable with other countries.