Founder and President of IIPT Serbia Chapter
Jovan Popesku brings more than 40 years of experience in a tourism education and tourism business to his position of founder of Institute for Peace through Tourism, Serbian Chapter of IIPT. He earned his Bachelor, Master and Ph.D. at Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade. He is currently professor at Singidunum University, Department for Tourism and Hospitality Management, Belgrade, as well as President of Centre for Responsible and Sustainable Tourism Development, Belgrade, Serbia.
Jovan experienced following IIPT events: Second Global Conference, Montreal, 1994 (with the paper), Second Global Summit, Geneva, 2003 (with the paper), First European conference, Leeuwarden, 2008 (with the paper), IIPT World Symposium, Johannesburg, 2014 (with two papers) as well as IIPT ZOOM Family Meeting (2021).
Jovan’s field of research includes tourism destination management, sustainable tourism management, rural and ecotourism as well as tourism marketing. He was author and supervisor of domestic and international projects primarily related to tourism destination management and sustainable tourism. He was the first Director General of the National Tourism Organization of Serbia.
Speaking of IIPT Serbia’s plans Jovan says: ‘’By establishing IIPT Serbia we want to contribute to the spread of a culture of peace in general, especially related to the role of tourism in this process. Similarly, we will do our best to influence the spread of this idea in cooperation with similar organizations from the wider region to which we belong, traditionally associated with divisions which are often tried to be resolved through armed conflicts’’.