Professor Slobodan Čerović, PhD, Emeritus

President of the Academy for Hospitality, Tourism, and Wellness

Born on March 30, 1955, in Belgrade. He completed primary school and the X Belgrade Gymnasium in Belgrade. He enrolled at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade in 1973 and graduated in 1977. He started postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade in 1978 and completed them by defending his master's thesis titled "Self-management Organization and Association of the Tourism Industry of Serbia" in 1981.

He defended his doctoral dissertation in March 2002 at the University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Geography, Tourism, and Hospitality, on the topic "Strategic Adjustment of the Tourism Industry of Serbia to Market Changes."

Immediately after graduating from the Faculty of Economics, he started working at GK SK Belgrade. In 1985, he moved to R.O. "Beogradgradnja" as the Assistant General Director for Planning and Development. In the same year, he moved to HP "Metropol" as the Director of the OOUR "Metropol" Hotel, a position he held until 1987, after which he became the General Director of HP "Metropol." He remained in this position until 1998, when he was appointed Minister of Tourism in the Government of the Republic of Serbia. Simultaneously, he was relieved of his duties as General Director, and the collective of HP "Metropol" elected him as the President of the Management Board. He also served as Vice President of the company "Dunav Insurance," responsible for Tourism. In March 2003, he was appointed as a Lecturer in the field of Tourism Management at the Department of Geography, Tourism, and Hospitality at the Faculty of Natural Sciences in Novi Sad. He was promoted to Associate Professor in November 2007 and to Full Professor in 2012. He was elected Dean of the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management in 2014. Since March 1, 2008, he has taught at the Singidunum University, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, in the following subjects: Economics, Macroeconomics, Strategic Management, Hospitality Management, Control and Auditing of Hospitality Operations, Design and Construction of Spaces in Hospitality, Human Resource Management in Hospitality, Economic-Financial Analysis of Hospitality and Tourism Enterprises, and Economics of Tourism. In January 2025, he was promoted to Professor Emeritus.

During his 15 years of work in the tourism industry, he held several other important positions.

He served two terms as the President of the Association of Tourism and Hospitality Industry of Serbia, was a member of the Presidency of the Belgrade Tourist Organization for two terms, and served as a member of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and the Tourism and Hospitality Committee for two terms. He also served as a member of the Chamber of Commerce of Belgrade and the Commission for Tourism and Hospitality, as well as a member of the Commission and the Tourism Committee of the Chamber of Commerce of Yugoslavia, and the Marketing and Management Committee. He also served one term as a member of the Presidency of the Aranđelovac Tourist Organization.

He was the President of the Jury for the awarding of the Serbian Tourism Flower for three years.

In 1989, during the presentation of the tourism and hospitality industry of Serbia in Israel, he was the President of the Editorial Board for the creation of the catalog "Investments in Tourism of Serbia." He served as Minister of Tourism in the Government of the Republic of Serbia starting in 1998 and, in this capacity, actively participated in the creation of the "Tourism Development Strategy of the Republic of Serbia," adopted in January 1999 and 2016, as well as the "Amendments and Supplements to the Tourism Law" of the Republic of Serbia, adopted in December 1999. He also participated in the drafting of numerous other legislative and sub-legislative acts that contributed to the economic strengthening of this industry. He contributed to the creation of the Tourism Development Strategy of Belgrade, as well as projects focused on Tourism Education in Serbia.

He was awarded the “Tourism Flower of Serbia” in 1987.

He received the “Brand Leader Award” in 2018.

He was awarded the Diploma of Excellence from Amfitetrau Economic, Bucharest, Romania, in 2014.

At the Faculty of Natural Sciences in Novi Sad and Niš, he taught subjects such as: Tourism Management, Tourism Industry Management, Restaurant Management, Hotel Management, Marketing in Tourism, and Market Research and Consumer Protection.

He also teaches at the Master's and Doctoral levels. He has mentored over 250 bachelor's theses, 20 master's theses, 100 master's papers, and 14 doctoral dissertations.

Throughout his professional, technical, and scientific career, he has published over 160 scientific and professional papers in the fields of business economics, tourism, tourism management, hospitality management, economics, human resource management, and more. He is the author of two projects on investment in hotels for a partner from the UK and has participated in the development of 4 projects.

He has published two monographs: "Strategic Management of the Tourism Industry of Serbia" (2002) and "Strategic Management in Tourism" (2009, with a second edition in 2020), textbooks such as "Tourism Management," "Tourism Market Research," "Hotel Design and Construction" (2019), "Human Resource Management in Hospitality" (2020), "Economic-Financial Analysis of Hotel and Tourism Enterprises" (2015), and "Financial Management of Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises" (2019). He has published 50 works that are listed on the SCI list, and a total of over 180 works throughout his professorial career.

He is a member of several scientific committees of international and domestic scientific journals and serves as a reviewer.

In 2021, Prof. Dr. Slobodan Čerović was recognized by the AD Scientific Index, World Scientist and University Rankings 2021, Serbia Scientist and University Social Sciences / Tourism & Hospitality Rankings 2021, as the best scientist in the field of tourism, ranking first on the list.