Tourist ships on the Danube as an opportunity for export of meat and meat products

Tourism development launches growth of other complementary industries. River tourism, as a special selective tourism form, experiences intensive development, with an importance for all the regions through which the Danube, as an integral part of the Rhine - Main – Danube waterway, flows. During cruising, the largest consumption is achieved on the ship itself, where meat and meat products are an integral element of every meal and represent the most expensive component of the dish. The task of this paper is to analyse the consumption of meat and meat products on six tourist ships run by to “Grand Circle Corporation” in 2013, in order to point out the possibility of supplying them with meat and meat products from sources in the territory where the ships sail. The paper presents the current suppliers and manufacturers of meat and meat products in Republic of Serbia that could supply the company „Grand Circle Cruise Line“ and other tourist ships that cruise on the Danube. Also, the research indicates that the export of meat products from the Republic Serbia could have a significant effect on improving the agricultural conditions and food production through increased competition, assuming the Serbian manufacturers supply most of tourist ships and not only the six ships analysed in this paper. Research results, specifically, point out the possibility of increasing export of poultry and beef if the potential demand of each of the eight companies with their 54 ships which operate tourist cruises on the Danube is taken into account. The data have been systematized, analysed and presented statistically in tables and graphs.


Introduction
Thanks to the favourable climate, good natural characteristics of the land and available water resources Serbia has a great potential in the sector of agriculture and food production and thus has the possibility to conquer the market provided that they meet the international quality standards. In addition, tourism has become an important source of income due to, among other things, the Danube (Popović et al., 2012), where a large number of tourist ships sail. These ships could be a new segment on the market and possibility to export agricultural and food products.
The Danube is one of the most frequently visited tourist destinations in Serbia. River tourism has an increasing growth rate in Europe and an even more expansive rate is predicted for the future (Katić et al., 2011), making the Danube, as a traveling route, an important factor of economic development for Serbia (Vitez, Raičević, 2008).
The Danube has the longest flow through Serbia, and yet not a single business entity from Serbia supplies the ships' kitchen with foodstuffs (Tešanović et  Tourism, agriculture and food industry are interconnected (Hrabovski-Tomić, 2010), and Meler and Cerović (2003) suggest that expenditures in food and drink in tourism account for one-third of the total tourist consumption of global tourism traffic. As a result of the tourists' consumption at a certain destination, tourism impacts the economy (Đenadić, 2010).
The topic of this paper is the consumption of meat and meat products on the tourist ships which pass through the Republic of Serbia because the meat is the basic and the most expensive component of every meal and most used after foods of plant origin (Kalenjuk et al., 2011;Tešanović et al., 2013). In this paper, the meat of warm-blooded animals (beef, veal, lamb and pigs), poultry meat and meat products will be discussed. Meat production in Serbia has a long tradition and some of the greatest successes of Serbian agriculture are linked specifically to the production of meat.
The task of this paper is to analyse the types and quantities of meat and meat products, which are consumed on the riverboats owned by "Grand Circle Cruise Line" which sail through the Republic of Serbia. The aim of the study is to determine which types of meat and meat products that are consumed on tourist ships of the company "Grand Circle Cruise Line" could be supplied by the producers in the Republic of Serbia. This should also indicate the possibility to export the same products that are consumed on tourist ships of the company "Grand Circle Cruise Line" to other companies that operate on the Danube, thus increasing the sales of meat in the Republic of Serbia.

The potential of the Danube River
At its lenght of 2,888 km, Danube is the second largest European river. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows through 10 countries in total: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine, and flows into the Black Sea on the territory of Romania (Katić et al., 2011). It is a part of the Trans-European navigation system of Rhine-Main-Danube waterway and connects the Atlantic with the Mediterranean (Mihić et al., 2011), thus giving it the ability to transport cruise ships from all over the world (Katić et al., 2011). The development of tourism on the Danube River and of the Danube region itself represents one of the priority directions of the overall development of Vojvodina.

Trends in nautical tourism
In 2013, the worldwide cruise market was estimated at $36.2 billion, up 4.8% from 2012; cruise passengers carried worldwide in 2013 is predicted to come at 20.9 million, a 3.3% increase over 2012; the top two cruise companies are Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Co. (they account for 71.7% of worldwide share of revenue); total worldwide cruise capacity at the end of 2013 was 438,595 passengers (3% increase over 2012) and 283 ships (Cruise Market Watch, 2012).
In the period of 2008 to 2013, river cruises recorded 10% of annual increase in the number of passengers while the cruise industry as a whole experienced an average growth of about 7% per year. According to the company Cruise Travel Outlet, river cruise lines currently face a problem to keep up with the demand. Namely, the majority of the companies had already booked a year in advance all the available river cruising places for the 2014 cruising season (Market Watch, 2013).
The steady growth of nautical tourism is also evident in Serbia, despite the scarcity of more recent data: year 2002 saw 101 tourist ships in the entire country, with 12,185 passengers, while this number grew more than nine-fold, to 915 ships in 2007 with 117,078 passengers. In addition to the steady growth of ships and passengers, the percentage of foreign tourists among those passengers has also been increasing: starting from 3.9% in 2002 to 16 Đorović and associates (2009; 2010) point out that an increase in the production of meat is a characteristic of economic development. These authors have studied the meat production globally in the period from 1989 to 2008 using three cross-sections: [1989][1990][1991][1998][1999][2000] and from 2006 to 2008. The average annual growth rate of meat production was 2.5% in the period of 2006-2008. Compared with the initial period analysed by the authors (1989)(1990)(1991), the production of meat has increased by 59% and represents about 286 million tons of meat and meat products. Out of the 15 largest meat producing countries (U.S. 18% of world meat production, Brazil 12.1%, China 7.8% and in Europe: Russia 2.7%, France 2.3% and Germany 1.8%) developed countries provide most of the world's production of beef and buffalo meat at 62% , while developing countries have a higher share in world production of pork, poultry, mutton and goat meat.

Production and sale of meat in the world and in domestic markets
Meat and meat products are essential in the diet of the people in developed countries (Saba, Di Natale, 1999;Grunert, 2006). Fernandez Gines and associates (2005) state that the meat industry is one of the most important food industries in the world with a continuous increase not only in consumer demand but also in the development of competition, which emphasizes the continuous research of new products.
In the global production of meat, pork is produced the most, with a share of about 41%, followed by poultry, with a share of about 30%. Beef and buffalo meat are in the third place at about 23%, while sheep and goat meat are at around 5% of the share and are in the fourth place (Đorović et al., 2009, 2010). The participation of Serbia in the total world production of meat is extremely modest, at around 0.17%. Wherein, the production of beef and poultry accounts for approximately 0.1%, while the production of pork and mutton for about 0.2% (SORS, 2012). Đorović and associates (2009; 2010) stated that the meat production in Serbia during the period of their evaluation, from 1989 to 2008, is characterized by permanent decrease and it is at the level of about 500,000 tons. With a negative growth rate of −0.7%, during the second cross-section period the production fell by 6.5% and even more in the third period, as much as 12.6%. The only kind of meat which saw an increase was pork, with a symbolic increase of 0.9% (SORS, 2012). Serbia is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of all kinds of meat in the CEFTA countries. Table 1 shows the production of fresh meat in the Republic of Serbia from 2009 to 2013. Comparing the annual consumption of tourist ships sailing on the Danube and passing through the Republic of Serbia to the annual production of meat in the Republic of Serbia, it can be noticed that those are significant quantities of meat which could result in increased production and export in meat industry. The production of beef, pork and lamb meat in 2010, despite the small number of cattle, totalled 388,000 tons (Petrović et al., 2011) which can unconditionally provide the needs of all tourist ships that pass through Serbia, since the production of beef and pork is less emphasized compared to poultry and meat products.

The status of export and import agricultural and food products in the Republic of Serbia
In the period from 2000 to 2010, the overall export of agricultural and food products from the Republic of Serbia was at the average annual level of 1.14 billion USD, and an analysis indicates that meat and meat products are in the second place according to the Institute for Statistics of the Republic of Serbia (SORS, 2012). In the structure of the total value of exports and imports of fresh meat, exports share is about 52%, and imports is about 31%, while processed meat export has a share of about 48%, and import of about 69% (Đorović et al., 2010).
Đorović and associates (2010) reported that the largest export of fresh, chilled and frozen meat is directed to Macedonia, Italy, Greece, the United Arab Emirates, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Congo, China and Vietnam. At the same time, the import of these products is usually from Austria, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Hungary, Greece, France and Slovenia.

Trends and consumer lifestyles in relation to the consumption of meat
Previous studies (Saba, Di Natale, 1999; Fernandez-Gines et al., 2005; Grunert, 2006) indicate the need of market research that is focused on consumers, and the analysis of external factors, such as their needs, attitudes, habits and lifestyles. The industry for agrofood products, in order to be competitive on the market, should pay attention to these external factors which influence the selection of products (Saba, Di Natale, 1999;Grunert, 2006). An opportunity for fragmentation and product differentiation of the meat market opens for the producers based on these external factors. The results of the market analysis indicate the frequent occurrence of interactions between consumer, attitudes and lifestyles in relation to the selection of products (Saba, Di Natale, 1999;Grunert, 2006), which later determines the way the manufacturers produce agricultural and food products. Same logic applies to the field of tourism: Permanent monitoring of the needs and demands of consumers or tourists is not only important for the agro-food industry, but also for tourism, in particular for the hospitality and the selection of the most appropriate parts of the meat for preparing and serving.
EP 2015 (62) 2 (527-542) The internal documentation of company "Grand Circle Corporation" from 2013 was used for the purpose of this research, showing the structure and amount of consumption of fresh meat and meat products by type for each of the 6 ships individually. The method of descriptive statistics was applied for the consumption analysis. The results are presented in tables and graphs. During the research of literature the methods of synthesis and analysis, which are combined according to specific research in this paper, were used.

The annual consumption of meat and meat products in the company "Grand Circle Cruise Line"
Consumption of agricultural and food products is a continuous biological and social process that has a fundamental importance. Considering that the problem of food in the world is always present the proper nutrition means eating foods of plant and animal origin, which contain essential nutrients. The company offers its passenger's properly balanced meals for whose preparation they procure fresh food at certain destinations during navigation (Vlahović, Štrbac 2006;Vlahović, Puškarić, 2006).
The Company does not purchase foodstuffs in Serbia, even though the longest flow of the Danube is in the Republic of Serbia, and therefore the retention of ships is the longest.
Purchasing for the leg of the voyage through Serbia is done in Budapest in Hungary. The following table lists the companies that supply ships with products and where they operate. It can be concluded from the Table 2, that the company supplies their ships with meat and meat products from two companies: HMS Group and DRIESSEN based in the Netherlands, and they transport between Germany, Austria and Hungary.
The following data about the different kinds of meat and meat products used in preparing meals refers to the total annual consumption on the six ships that were analysed for this paper.    Table 4, shows that Chicken breast fillet is the most consumed part -6,830.44 kg, followed by Turkey breast boneless with 1,673.28 kg. There is only one part of game that is used -Duck legs with 4,834.3 kg. Other parts of meat are also used, such as: Chicken legs boneless, Chicken legs bone-in, Chicken liver, Chicken wings, Turkey legs (rollbratendark meat), Turkey whole without insides with skin, and also products from chicken -Chicken Cordon Blue and Chicken nuggets. Meat products consumption -Different kinds of meat products which are used on ships are shown in table 6. Ships purchase and use 19 types of meat products, of which Bacon smoked whole for breakfast stands out with the consumption of 8645.73 kg, followed by Minced mixed meat with 3,688 kg and Ham cooked breakfast with 3,410.51 kg. Other meat products that are also consumed are: Cold cuts salami white, Sausage smoked Rockworst, Sausage Bavarian white, Cold cuts turkey assorted, Cold cuts assorted, Sausage Vienna, Sausage Breakfast (20-25gr) and Beef Hamburger. The data obtained about the total annual consumption of meat and meat products from the chosen sample in the company "Grand Circle Cruise Line" is represented in Graph 1. According to the data described above, it can be concluded that the consumption of poultry meat in the amount of 27 t is the biggest, followed by other meat products in the amount of 26 t.

Meat industries in the Republic of Serbia and their possibilities
Based on the data retrieved from the Government run Agency for company registration With application of international and European regulatory framework in terms of food safety and quality, and by adoption of a holistic and preventive approach to inspection and control in the meat industry (Rantsios, 2007) Table 8 represents the possibilities and capacity in meat industries that may identify their interest in this segment.

Conclusion
The number of ships sailing on the Danube is increased every year and it is expected that the meat consumption will increase too. At the time when the data was extracted (2013), the sampled company "Grand Circle Cruise Line" did not work with any supplier of meat or meat products from Serbia. Based on an analysis of the market and the meat industry offer in the Republic of Serbia, there are competent and competitive companies which can provide the supply of ships sailing through the country. Producers in the meat industry which met basic reliability criteria are: Matijević d.o.o. Agroživ d.o.o. and Carnex a.d. Meat industries on the market of the Republic of Serbia have met some standards of quality and are in the process of fulfilling all of them. It remains on the State to implement regulations that are in accordance with EU regulations in terms of food production, sanitation and quality and thus eliminate the biggest hurdle in exporting the agro-food products. This would also bring in more revenues in form of taxes for the State. However, until all of the regulations are in place, it is unlikely the cruisers will employ Serbian meat-producers. Each passing cruising season without the regulations in place costs the Republic of Serbia significant amount of money in a wasted potential. Once all of the regulation is in place, and Serbian meat-producers can make use of their producing potential, they will have to put together a carefully drafted and competitive pricing list in order to encourage potential buyers. The future researches should include repeated studies in different companies and compare the results. Additionally, the possibility to export other foodstuffs should be researched.