Centre for Sustainability and Wellbeing in the Visitor Economy

We are developing critical evidence to inform public and private governance of the visitor economy, in the UK and globally.

Research aims

We strive to deliver research and teaching which drives inspiration for an environmentally, economically and socially sustainable society with a particular focus on the transport, tourism, hospitality and events industries. With a truly interdisciplinary group of academics, we work with intergovernmental organisations, industry and NGOs. We focus on the following key areas:

Sustainability evidence-based policy making
Industry’s acceptance of responsibility for sustainable development
Sustainable development and entrepreneurship
Sustainable and efficient transportation
Sustainability marketing, product design and communication.

Research projects

Covid-19 research topics

Current projects

Investigators

Principal investigator: Professor Xavier Font
Co-investigators: Harald Rice, Mireia Guix and Christy Hehir.

Synopsis

We analyse and promote methods for travel trade associations, industry and certification bodies to take more responsibility to be sustainable. The Association of Independent Tour Operators has commissioned us to develop and deliver a sustainability pledge system for its members.

During 2019-20 we are researching primate-tourist-resident conflict resolution methods, with the support of the Global Challenges Research Fund.

In 2018 we researched the responsibility that travel trade associations acknowledge to promote animal welfare amongst their members, in partnership with World Animal Protection. We previously researched the corporate social responsibility policies and practices of cruise lines, international hotel groups and small hospitality firms, including an audit of the Sustainable Development Goals in global hotel groups, for United Nations Environment.

Overview:

We have partnered with six regions on a cross-border Interreg EU funded project called EXPERIENCE.

The project aims to reduce seasonality across the French-English Channel region through the introduction of sustainable, experiential tourism activities designed for the winter season. Building upon the growing trend in experiential tourism based on regional uniqueness, the project aims to identify and enhance each region’s cultural and natural assets in order to attract more visitors during off-peak season.

An essential goal of the strategy however is to ensure a sustainable growth in winter tourism numbers without jeopardising the eco-systems and quality of life of the host communities.

EXPERIENCE will harness the experiential tourism trend to extend the visitor season, generating 20m new visitors and delivering sustainable economic growth across the France Channel England region. 14 Project Partners will reinvent the way the economy, environment, communities and brands interact across 6 pilot regions - focusing on low-impact activities and working to secure the future resilience of our natural and cultural assets.

This €23.3m project will develop and test the strategy across six pilot regions:

Brittany
Pas-de-Calais
Compiègne
Norfolk
Kent
Cornwall.

Our role:

Our role as a university will be to assist in the following work packages:

Uniting and training traditional (tourism offices) and atypical actors (foresters/artisans) to recognise unique regional tourism selling points
Co-designing a new off-season tourism offer with destinations, harnessing regional selling points to create exciting itineraries
Testing off-season experiential tourism marketing solutions through the use of the Digital Lab.

We will also be the lead partner for the evaluation of economic, social, and environmental impacts on pilot regions to ensure the project creates long-lasting benefits in host communities. We will ensure the sustainability of project activities by creating indicators to monitor and measure how EXPERIENCE will contribute towards:

Economic gain (e.g. Supporting local businesses and year-round jobs)
Social gain (visitors must not overwhelm local culture and service provision in host communities)
Environmental gain (protecting natural and cultural assets that visitors travel to see).

Budget: €16.1 million ERDF

Project duration: 3.8 years

Investigators

Principal investigators: Professor Graham Miller and Professor Xavier Font
Co-investigator: Gloria Crabolu.

Synopsis

Our team was behind the creation of the European Tourism Indicator System (ETIS), and we continue to engage with governments to use sustainability evidence to take more informed policy decisions. In 2019, we will work with municipalities in South Sardinia (Italy) on sustainability evidence-based policy making.

We recently created the Global Sustainable Tourism Dashboard in collaboration with Griffith University. This dynamic online tool presents a range of sustainability indicators for the tourism sector, and aims to provide a broader insight into how the sector is contributing to key sustainability goals at the global level. In 2018, we wrote a manual to transfer best practices on sustainable tourism policy making, park of the Interreg Mitomed+ project.

In 2017, we advised the Catalan Tourist Board on their 2017 marketing plans, centred around repositioning Catalonia as a sustainable tourist destination. We were also commissioned to develop a white paper for the city of Barcelona on how its tourist board could redesign its marketing strategy to achieve more sustainable development.

Start date: 2016
End date: 2020

Investigators

Principal investigators: Dr Scott Cohen and Dr Andrew Hares.

Funding

Amount: €135,000.

Synopsis

Our research focuses on sustainable aspects of mobility, hypermobility, promotion of slower and more environmentally friendly travel. In 2016-17, we were awarded €135,000 to assess the socio-economic and environmental impact of Clean Sky 1, the EU’s largest ever aeronautics research programme, for its ability to meet the Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe’s 2020 objectives for emissions abatement, noise reduction, and lifecycle design.

Observatory for Human Rights and Major Events (HaRM)

Aligning ‘well-being’ and ‘human rights’ together, specifically in the context of major events, SWELL is home to the new research ‘Observatory for Human Rights and Major Events’ (HaRM). HaRM’s work is focused around three Pillars: 1) human exploitation and trafficking, 2) urban regeneration and development: Community disruption and displacement, and 3) Visitor economies and experiences: Organisational and behavioural barriers to community leveraging. More detailed information about HaRM, research topics, and experts involved can be found on the HaRM webpage.

Gender, Entrepreneurship and Social Policy Institute (GESPi)

The Gender, Entrepreneurship and Social Policy Institute (GESPi) conducts research on how to achieve more sustainable forms of development and how to promote wellbeing through the tourism, hospitality, events and other service sectors. This includes getting a better understanding regarding the role of tourism and the services sectors within communities in enabling the diversification of livelihoods and promoting sustainable entrepreneurship and employment, particularly for marginalised communities, including promoting gender empowerment. We analyse how policy adjustments and stakeholder collaborations can generate positive change and inclusive growth. For more information please see the GESPi website.