“Over the past three decades, the fields of tourism, hospitality, and festival management have undergone significant transformation—mirroring the shifting priorities of society, global economies, and technological innovation. When I started at Napier Polytechnic in 1991, research was a relatively small part of an academic’s role. The research was often descriptive and focused on basic destination marketing, seasonal trends and economic impact. Today research is integral to our role as academics, involving engagement in quality, impactful research that is increasingly important to the university for teaching, income, recruitment and reputation.
Back in the early 1990s, tourism was an emerging subject at universities. It was often squeezed into geography or business departments, with researchers mostly working with theories borrowed from other subjects and a lack of quality journals dedicated to the field. The big change came as tourism exploded globally and became impossible to ignore economically. Universities started creating dedicated tourism courses and departments. Suddenly, there were academics whose full-time job was to understand how tourism actually works, to contribute to the positive development of tourism, and to develop robust research to inform the quality of our teaching.
This is where institutions like Edinburgh Napier University made a real difference. We set up the first Scottish undergraduate degree in Tourism Management and worked directly with the tourism industry. We showed that we could do serious research that was both intellectually rigorous and genuinely useful to people running visitor attractions, planning festivals and managing destinations. Our commitment to applied research has helped policymakers, destination management organisations and event organisers adapt to real-world problems. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, we helped inform recovery strategies that balanced public health with the survival of cultural festivals, tourism and hospitality businesses.
The way researchers gather information has changed dramatically during the past 33 years. In the 1990s, it was mostly based on surveys – I recall posting hundreds of paper surveys to participants in visitor attractions in New Zealand, Australia and Canada – and requesting endless interlibrary loans. Now, technology provides us with instant access to a wealth of sources (perhaps too many!) and allows us to access to thousands of online reviews instantly and predict tourism patterns with sophisticated computer models. That said, I’m not sure much beats the delight we had when hundreds of those international visitor attractions sent back their completed paper surveys!
What’s really exciting is how the field has become genuinely interdisciplinary in a way that makes the research richer and more relevant. In my recent work, I’ve seen this shift in action. I’ve worked with psychologists, economists and HR experts to investigate the complex questions that visitor attraction managers face every day. How do you keep visitors happy while protecting historic buildings? How do you balance tourism income with community needs? How do you recruit and retain a range of employees plus attract a diverse range of audiences? My research aims to gives managers practical tools that they can actually use.
The launch of the Tourism Research Centre (TRC) in 2022 built on our existing research approach and expertise, demonstrating how university research can evolve to meet real-world needs. Tourism research today doesn’t just describe what’s happening – it actively helps shape better experiences for visitors and more sustainable outcomes for attractions and destinations. As TRC Lead, I’m immensely proud of what we’ve achieved in the last 3 years, the networks we’ve developed, and the relevant, impactful work that we’ve undertaken.
After over 33 years at Edinburgh Napier, I’ve decided to retire and will hand over the reins of the TRC to Professor Louise Todd. I’m hugely confident that Louise and the team will continue to develop the TRC and contribute to an even greater understanding of tourism as both an economic driver and a social force for good. I will still be involved in my new role as Professor Emerita and look forward to seeing how the tourism, hospitality and festivals management research arena develops in the coming years.”
Written by: Professor Anna Leask
