Tourism, Hospitality & Events

Books will often provide a broad overview of a topic and are a great starting point for research.

Search for specific books by title or author or search for keywords using Primo.

You may also wish to browse the shelves but remember that not all books will be in the same location as some will be relevant to other subjects too.

Many of the books bought by the library are also available in an electronic format.  From Primo just click on the image or the 'Online access' link. If you know the exact book you are looking for, then Primo is the place to start.

Remember that Primo cannot search the full text of an eBook, just the title and book record. This means that you might miss useful eBook material if you only search in Primo. Try searching in one of the big eBook platforms shown below such as eBook Central and eBook Collection (EbscoHost) - these do search the full text, and may pick up chapters or sections within books that Primo misses.

Databases contain a wide range of different resources including books, journal and magazine articles and conference proceedings. If you want to do further research on a topic databases are a great starting point. You can search for a particular source or you can search across the collection by typing in keywords. 

The Library's main database is our catalogue Primo which searches across the whole Library resources both print and electronic. Broad topics will bring back millions of results so you may want to narrow the search down by using specialist databases- this will also ensure material is relevant to your course.

Core Databases for Tourism, Hospitality, Cruising and Event Management

Journals provide more detailed analysis usually looking at a specific area of research. Scholarly journals often go through a peer review process so other academics in the field check it before it is published, and this provides a form of quality control. 

The majority of journals are available electronically and can be accessed via Primo. There is also a small collection of print journals on Level 0. 

Top Tip: Check out the below videos on how to read journals and what is a scholarly journal article.

Suggested Journal Titles:

• Annals of Tourism Research

• International Cruise & Ferry Review

• International Journal of Hospitality Management

• Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing

• Journal of Travel Research

• Tourism Management

Market Reports provide an indepth picture of a specific market sector or industry and key companies. These can be used to provide statistical evidence on key trends or opportunities and can help back up and give weight to arguments you are using in your assignments.

Looking beyond University these are a fantastic resource to help you research potential employers. 

Trade Publications are written for professionals in a particular field. These tend to include short news articles and report trends within that profession. They may also include product or service reviews, job vacancies and advertisements.   

Selection of Trade Publications 

• Conference & Incentive Travel
• Travel Weekly
• Travel Agent
• Luxury Travel Advisor

Free online publications

• On the Road
• Destination UK
• Travel Bulletin 

Newspapers are great for up to date topical opinions on events.

It is important to remember that newspapers are written for profit so will use attention grabbing headlines. Often papers have a political affiliation and this may bias their interpretation of events. 

Browse our collections

Websites can contain relevant and useful information however, you need to be aware that anyone can create a webpage and post information. You will need to use your judgment to assess whether the facts they are presenting are true.

Useful Websites

• Association of National Tourist Office & Representatives - links to various tour operators
• Department for Culture, Media and Sport
• Food Standards Agency
• Hospitality Net
• International Centre for Responsible Tourism
• International Ecotourism Society - information on how to travel responsibily and support ecotourism
• Tourism Concern - action for ethical tourism, links to publication & information about campaigns
• World Tourism Organisation

Cruise Websites

• Cruise Line International Association - the main trade association for the cruise line industry
• Florida Caribbean Cruise Association- not-for-profit trade organization composed of 19 member cruise lines operating 100 vessels in Floridia, Caribbean and Latin American waters.
• Cruise Watch - blog including data on the cruise industry

Organisations can be a rich source of information within the field they represent and will often undertake research and publicise the results. Like Market Reports they can provide an indepth picture into that sector however, unlike market reports their studies won't be independent and it is important to understand the ethos of the particular organisation and identify potential biases when using this information.

Suggested Organisations

• ABTA Association of British Travel Agents

• UNWTO World Tourism Organization

• World Travel & Tourism Council

• Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Statistics can be very useful at providing evidence to back up your arguments. Graphs can also be a useful visual representation of data to show trends. Remember that you will need to reference these the same as you would with any other type of information.   

Useful sites providing statistics:

• Eurostats

• World Tourism Organisation Statistical Service

   

Useful publications:

• OECD (Environmental Data & Indicators)

• Quandl

• Office for National Statistics

• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

• Census Dissemination Unit 

• UK Data Service

You may wish to use images and other media in your assignments - these will be especially useful for visual assignments such as presentations or designing posters, websites etc.   

Media Resources

• Box of Broadcasts (BoB)

• British Library Archival Sound Recordings

Copyright free/ creative commons images

• Pixabay 

• Pexels 

• Flickr Creative Commons 

• Unsplash