The 47^th Annual Congress of the International Hotel & Restaurant Association – IH & RA took place in Belgrade, from 18^th to 21^st January 2010. This international congress was held under the auspices of the Government of the Republic of Serbia. The organiser was the International Hotel & Restaurant Association – IH & RA whose members are over 100 national associations, 300,000 hotels and over 8 million restaurants. The total number of employees in hotels and restaurants – members of the IH&RA amounts to 60 million, and the IH & RA members generate the total international foreign currency income of 950 billion USD. The congress hosted around 250 delegates, representatives of the hotel and restaurant industry, general managers and directors of hotels and restaurants, making it exceptionally important for the development and positioning of the hotel and meetings industry of Serbia. The general topics of the congress were the Balkans as a new tourist market of Europe and New trends in the hotel industry.