Duncan Stewart, ENU alumnus and Managing Partner at insight agency 56 Degree Insight, has a long relationship with Edinburgh Napier University that goes back to 1992, when he enrolled for the BA (Hons) Hospitality (Tourism Management) course. Today Duncan shares with us his interesting story, his career path, and some fantastic photos back from the 90s.
My experience at Edinburgh Napier began in 1992 when I enrolled for the BA (Hons) Hospitality (Tourism Management) course.
It was an exciting time to join the university. Edinburgh Napier had recently achieved university status, and my course was newly established the year before—launched at a time when tourism was (correctly) predicted to become the world’s fastest-growing industry. I soon realised I’d made the right choice. The course struck a great balance between theoretical grounding and real-world insights, including memorable guest speakers from major organisations like British Airways and the chance to complete a work placement in year three.
I kept my placement local, spending six months with the ferry company Stena back ‘home’ in Stranraer. The experience offered a wide range of learning opportunities—from frontline operations to my first real taste of market research, analysing and reporting on passenger survey results. It was this early exposure that ultimately shaped the direction of my career.
I was delighted to graduate with a 1st class degree and get roles working in tourism research firstly with the Scottish Tourist Board (now VisitScotland), then with the Yorkshire Tourist Board. These roles gave me a solid grounding in the field, from crunching data from the major business and consumer surveys to developing new studies, including those monitoring accommodation occupancy and visitor attraction numbers. An important part of my job at STB was to help students to find their way around our research library a fantastic resource in those pre internet days!
In 1998, I moved to the agency side, joining System Three—then one of the UK’s leading tourism research companies. I spent over 20 years there, building experience with a vast array of clients, from small businesses and public sector bodies to major brands such as Center Parcs and TUI. Over those two decades, the research world changed dramatically. Interviewers with clipboards gave way to online panels, and clients shifted from demanding dense data tables to concise, action-focused insights. My role evolved too—by 2019 I was a Director, jointly managing the company’s Edinburgh office, as it went through several acquisitions and rebrands, eventually becoming part of global research giant Kantar.
In 2019, my fellow Director Jim Eccleston and I took the leap and launched 56 Degree Insight, our own specialist insights agency focused on tourism.
56 Degree Insight has allowed me to apply everything I’ve learned since my time at Napier—turning theory into practice and building on experiences stretching all the way back to those early days tabulating surveys of ferry passengers during my work placement. Despite the initial challenges of launching a new business just before the Covid-19 shutdown, the business has thrived. We’ve supported many of Scotland’s leading travel and tourism organisations—both public and private sector—on everything from visitor surveys and brand evaluations to segmentation studies and customer experience tracking.
And in 2022, I was delighted to reconnect with Professor Anna Leask—who I first met as a new lecturer back in 1992—by partnering with Edinburgh Napier University on a project which explored perceptions of hospitality and tourism as a career, in light of ongoing recruitment and skills challenges. It was nostalgic moment to return to campus to present our findings to an audience including a number of current tourism students at the Tourism Research Centre seminar.
1 – Stena – Extract from my work placement logbook documenting one of my roles making public announcements to delayed passengers!
2 – STB – Me and the rest of the research team in the Scottish Tourist Board library.