Sustainable tourism: collaborative research methodologies to transform the tourism sector

While tourism provides opportunities for new income generation in many parts of the world, it comes at a cost that is often unrecognised or under-estimated. For twenty years, the University of Brighton’s research in tourism has been addressing complex tourism development issues - poverty alleviation, social justice, conflicts and epidemics, environmental issues, hospitality management and human resource skills - in a range of African, Asian and European contexts.

The University of Brighton's research into tourism and sustainable development integrates empirical academic studies with commissioned work for tourism organisations and community-based participatory research. Professor Marina Novelli, Dr Adam Jones and Dr Ioannis Pantelidis have employed practical collaborative research methodologies to advance policies and industry practices designed to transform the tourism and hospitality sector. 

The practical application of this research includes two specially devised methodologies, Rapid Situation Analysis and pro-activist Peer-to-Peer capacity building, which employed a co-constructed approach, with tourism organisations and local communities. These approaches have led to innovative and equitable social, economic and environmental interventions and to more stable, higher- yielding, responsible and sustainable forms of tourism.

PhD applicants for research in tourism, hospitality and events management, find out more.

Achieving more sustainable tourism in Africa 

In Africa, this research has advanced workforce skills, generated innovative niche tourism products and influenced the practices of hundreds of people whose livelihoods and communities depend upon the tourist trade across many countries such as Namibia, Kenya, The Gambia and Ghana. 

In 2013, the Gambian Tourism and Hospitality Institute was inaugurated following Novelli’s World Bank commissioned research into the strategic planning of vocational education and workforce development in the country. This resulted in training schemes increasing the level of professionally trained workforce and employability in the sector, including train-the- trainer schemes, on service standards co-developed and in collaboration with The Gambia Hotel Association.

In 2015, the World Bank and Gambia Ministry of Finance commissioned Novelli to complete an evaluation study of the World Bank’s $3m investment to increase tourism competitiveness and productivity in The Gambia. This study informed the World Bank’s institutional project monitoring and evaluation phase, contributing to the successful completion of their interventions in the country.

As a direct result of Marina Novelli and Adam Jones’ 2014-2016 research on the Ebola- induced tourism crisis, the Gambia Ministry of Tourism and Culture established new crisis management procedures and a crisis fund. The Gambia Chamber of Commerce introduced new crisis management procedures and communication strategies employing internet and social media platforms. More recently, based on earlier experiences of dealing with the Ebola epidemic, Marina Novelli was invited by the CEO of the Ghana Tourism Authority to co-create an action-oriented task force on COVID-19. This became the Building Bridges for Sustainable Tourism in Africa initiative, advocating for proactive collaborations to address the COVID-19-induced tourism crisis at continental level. Marina Novelli’s research then informed discussions of the first ever African Tourism Authorities/Board CEO Forum held in 2020 and several other virtual forums, establishing a path towards tourism recovery. 

Marina Novelli’s Peer-to-Peer approach has shifted wider tourism sector narratives internationally towards achieving the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with impactful interventions at global, national and local levels. In 2016, the transformative value of the Peer-to-Peer approach, and its ability to improve socio-economic benefits for host communities, were acknowledged as tourism best practice by the United Nations World Tourism Organization in their report on The Power of Transformative Tourism. 

Over a seven-year period, Marina Novelli’s commissioned research underpinned investment and workforce skills capacity-building in Namibia, The Gambia, Kenya and Ghana. Through product development training, community members acquired new knowledge, skills and values associated with sustainable tourism business planning, conservation and community development. This included establishment of the first ever community-based turtle conservation project in the country, ‘Turtle SOS The Gambia’, to respond to devastating turtle poaching activities and offer a system of awareness building and educational programmes to low-income coastal communities.

Since 2018, Marina Novelli and Adam Jones have implemented the Peer-to-Peer approach in Ghana, through a collaboration with globally-renowned artist Serge Clottey, La360 community-based arts festival team and a local youth group. This intervention improved community living standards in the low-income coastal neighbourhood of La (Labadi) in Accra. It stimulated change in community members’ attitudes, turning them from passive bystanders witnessing the degradation of their urban and ocean environments, to active custodians of these environments.

Mitigating the financial impact of overtourism and all-inclusive hotels in Europe

Marina Novelli was amongst the first to contribute to the definition of the overtourism phenomena, basing this on research investigating tourism de-growth from a social movements’ perspective and suggesting a paradigm shift in the governance and development of tourism. This led to the University of Brighton becoming part of the team contracted to deliver a study for the European Parliament Transport and Tourism Committee, which identified technical solutions to overtourism and custom-made policies in cooperation with key stakeholders and policymakers and informed European Parliament research and debates on overtourism and stimulated a policy shift.  

Following from this, Marina Novelli was appointed as academic advisor by Airbnb to lead on a research and national consultation for the realisation of a white paper to regulate the UK Short-term let market, currently under consideration in Parliament. 

Previous research undertaken by Ioannis Pantelidis and Adam Jones in 2014 has informed the development of new industry policies, strategies and practices encouraging increased visitor spend outside all-inclusive hotels in Paphos (Cyprus), addressing the negative financial impacts of all-inclusive hotels on local business. The study, which was Travel Foundation funded, helped over 50 per cent of all-inclusive hotels reshape their customers’ communication strategies and their employees’ training, by increasing knowledge about specific destination offerings in Paphos, with specific actions being implemented by the Cyprus Tourism Organisation. 

Impactful research across tourism, hospitality and event management and hospitality

Through research across tourism, hospitality and events, University of Brighton’s researchers have improved benefits for local communities and created better industry performance, devising responses to disease-induced crisis, influencing the policies of international development organisations, changing tourism sector narratives, developing workforce capacity, engaging low-income communities and advancing sustainable tourism practices in the public, private and third sectors.