Conference Women in Tourism

Irena Weber attended the international conference "Women in Tourism" in Split from April 19-22. The conference was organized by the Institute for Tourism from Zagreb, University of Westminster, GB, Equality in Tourism International, and the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Representatives from more than twenty countries were present.

The two-day program included presentations and discussions from internationally recognized women researchers in tourism. The keynote speakers were Stroma Cole, Marco Valeri, Sanda Čorak, Marina Novelli and Irena Ateljević.

The thematic sessions were divided into topics such as:

- Advancing women leadership and entrepreneurship,

- Women as employees in tourism,

- Woman voices in tourism product development,

- Lessons learned from history,

- Gender differences and gender policy in tourism,

- Personal and social safety and security issues in

- Breaking Barriers: Empowering Women in Tourism.

In the Lessons learned from history section, Irena Weber presented her paper Alma Karlin and the ambivalent encounters with women on her travels, in which, based on an ethnographic analysis of Alma Karlin's works, she highlighted the relevance of historical references for contemporary understandings of cosmopolitanism, racism, post-colonialism, inclusion and exclusion, and the role of gender in the study of travel and tourism.