Dušan Borovčanin, PhD – Keynote Speaker at SITCON 2026

Singidunum University and Advisor to the Director of EXPO 2027 Belgrade

BECOMING SOMEONE ELSE?

Play, Travel and Events as Spaces for Exploring Who We Are and Who We Might Become

Dušan Borovčanin, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Singidunum University, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Strasbourg. His research focuses primarily on sport tourism and events, including their impacts on tourism destinations and the hospitality sector, as well as event legacy.

He is the co-author of the book Sports Tourism and co-editor of the Routledge volume Sport Tourism, Events and Sustainable Development Goals: An Emerging Foundation. His work in this field has examined the effects of sporting events on tourism destinations and hotel performance, as well as questions related to sport tourism participation and the long-term legacy of major events.

Alongside his academic career, he has been professionally engaged in destination development and the organisation of major international events, including projects closely connected with tourism and the meetings industry. He was involved in Serbia’s successful bid to host Specialised Expo 2027 in Belgrade and later served as Director of EXPO 2027 Belgrade. He currently serves as Advisor to the Director, remaining actively involved in the preparation of this international exhibition, whose central theme connects sport, music, and their role in society.

Do we travel only to experience different places, or also to experience different versions of ourselves? Drawing on research in tourism, sport, events and identity, this keynote explores how travel can take us beyond our everyday roles, how play allows us to experiment with different selves, and how events create temporary social worlds in which these identities can be performed, shared and recognised.

Moving from theory to practice and from sport tourism to the experience of developing Expo 2027 Belgrade under the theme “Play for Humanity: Sport and Music for All” this lecture asks what these ideas mean for destinations and businesses preparing to welcome the world to Serbia. Rather than simply preparing for more visitors, should we be designing for participation, connection and belonging? And instead of asking only what visitors can see and do, should we begin with a different question: Who can they become here?

Ultimately, the keynote turns that same question back on the host destination: if major events can temporarily change the identities of those who visit them, who might we become by hosting the world?