Dr. Sanja Dolenec is a Postdoctoral Assistant at the Juraj Dobrila University of Pula in Croatia. She earned her PhD in Tourism from the University of Primorska in Slovenia and has actively participated in several international mobility programs to enhance her teaching and research activities. With over a decade of experience in university-level teaching and research, Dr. Dolenec has made significant contributions to the academic community.
She is the author or co-author of approximately 15 scientific papers and has presented her research at six international scientific conferences. Her research interests focus on tourism destination development, with particular emphasis on initiatives shaped by the collective memories of communities with tragic histories, an area known as dark tourism.
Employing an interdisciplinary approach, Dr. Dolenec aims to deepen the understanding of stakeholder attitudes towards dark tourism, including those of tourists themselves. Her innovative research connects diverse academic fields, including collective memory, dark tourism, stakeholder theory, heritage consumption, and the urban planning of tourist destinations.
Research Abstract: Consuming Memorial Heritage in Sarajevo’s Urban Environment – A Non-Local Visitor’s Perspective
This research project innovatively combines urban studies, dark tourism, and the concept of heritage consumption within the context of Sarajevo’s urban landscape. Focusing on the non-local visitor’s perspective, the study addresses the gap in literature regarding how memorial heritage dedicated to war events is consumed by tourists.
Utilizing novel methods, including the analysis of TripAdvisor reviews and an inductive thematic approach supported by MAXQDA 2024 software for data analysis, the project explores the role of private initiatives in the post-war spatial reconstruction of the city. While these efforts contributed to rebuilding Sarajevo, the rise of tourism has also brought forth significant challenges for the city.
The research aims to provide evidence-based recommendations for urban and tourism planning in Sarajevo, a city currently in a crucial phase of development with vast opportunities for future growth.