Professor Joanne Connell
Associate Professor in Sustainability and Tourism
J.J.Connell@exeter.ac.uk
2657
+44 (0) 1392 722657
Streatham Court 0.58
Streatham Court, University of Exeter, Rennes Drive, Exeter, EX4 4PU, UK
Overview
Professor Joanne Connell joined the University of Exeter Business School in 2011, having preiously worked at the University of Stirling and the University of Plymouth.
Her qualifications include a BSc (Hons) in Rural Resource Management and an MA in Tourism and Social Responsibility (Exeter). She was awarded a PhD in 2002 by the Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Plymouth for her research on gardens as a tourism and recreational resource in Great Britain, and the implications for managing gardens as visitor attractions.
Jo has extensive experience in tourism research, education, publishing and knowledge transfer, with a particular focus on sustainable tourism. Notably, she is the author of a range of acclaimed books and edited collections, including the major international text book Tourism: A Modern Synthesis now in its 5th edition, and The Routledge Handbook of Events (both with Stephen Page). She has co-edited a series of high-level research works for both Routledge and Sage that provide a valuable synthesis of how sub-disciplines in Tourism (Event Tourism, Sustainable Tourism and Leisure) have evolved. She is the Book Review Editor for the journal Tourism Management, and is the Associate Editor for the Tourism and Hospitality section of the open-access journal Heliyon.
Her research interests span the connections between people and places, with a particular focus on sustainable tourism planning and management, nature and the outdoor environment. Current projects include making the visitor economy more dementia-friendly and she is one of the leading researchers internationally in this new area. She is a co-investigator on the UKRI project ENLIVEN in collaboration with the University of Exeter Medical School and University of Hertfordshire, which explores the benefits of nature and the outdoors for older people with cognitive impairment and how business and organisations can improve their provision. She has worked with a range of sector-leading organisations to improve awareness and practice and has created dementia-friendly guides for tourism businesses.
Many of the external projects in which Jo has been involved demonstrate both social and economic impact through the leveraging of policy advice to organisations seeking to address strategic issues. She has led and worked as part of small project teams with a number of external bodies, including Bude Climate Partnership, Historic Royal Palaces, West Dorset Council, Visit England, VisitScotland, New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development and Stirling Council. She advised and worked extensively with Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority (Scotland’s first National Park Authority). Other projects she has worked on include event impact evaluations, tourism business surveys, visitor surveys and organisational secondary data analysis to improve business performance.
Nationality: British
Qualifications
- BSc (Hons) in Rural Resource Management, University of Plymouth
- MA in Tourism and Social Responsibility, University of Exeter
- PhD - Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Plymouth
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
- Member of the Tourism Society
- Member of the Royal Geographic Society
Research
Research interests
- Place-based approaches to sustainable tourism management
- Healthy ageing, dementia-inclusivity and the outdoor visitor economy
- Business engagement with social and environmental agendas
- Visitor experiences of places and spaces
Jo’s research interests focus broadly around the theme of people and places within a sustainable tourism framework.
Her current research addresses business awareness of dementia, and innovative approaches to developing a dementia-inclusive visitor economy by engaging tourism businesses in adapting and developing services for people with dementia. She has published ground-breaking academic papers on making the visitor economy more dementia prepared, and is a leading academic globally in this emerging subject area. Reflecting her lifelong passion for nature and the rural environment, Jo is a co-investigator on the ESRC funded ENLIVEN project that connects natural environment experiences, businesses and people with cognitive decline.
Jo's wider research and teaching interests focus on the area of sustainable tourism planning and management. Sustainable tourism is a well–established perspective within tourism management, although its translation from ideology to policy to application is still fraught with difficulties for practitioners and academics alike. Jo is interested in how this process operates and the challenges that face tourism regions and destinations in striving towards the goals of sustainable development.
Jo has undertaken work on the strategic value of festivals and events to tackle seasonality and create more sustainable approaches to an all year round operation for small enterprises She has also undertaken research on the impact of film-induced tourism and is a recognised contributor to the body of knowledge that seeks to evaluate and measure the effects of film and television, particularly through her work on the Isle of Mull, Scotland. The impacts of film tourism are significant in terms of the development, management and marketing of tourism spaces, while balancing visitor expectation and experience with community perceptions and responses, and environmental impacts.
Research projects
Member of the working group to create the national Dementia-Friendly Tourism Guide (2019) for both Visit England and Visit Scotland, (with Visit England, Visit Scotland, National Trust and Alzheimer’s Society).
Member of the project team to create a dementia-friendly guide for the heritage sector: Klug, K., Page, S.J., Connell, J., Robson, D. and Bould, E. (2017) Rethinking Heritage: A Guide to help make your site more dementia-friendly. For Historic Royal Palaces and Alzheimer’s Society
Dementia-friendly tourism toolkit for tourism businesses (2015). For National Coastal Tourism Academy. URL: https://coastaltourismacademy.co.uk/resource-hub/resource/dementia-why-is-it-important-for-tourism
Evaluation project for West Dorset and Weymouth and Portland Shared Service Partnership: Connell, J. (2014) The Impact of the TV series ‘Broadchurch’ on Tourism Business in the West Dorset Area.
Research networks
Member of the REACH Network Centre for Research in Ageing and Cognitive Health #REACHExeter
Research grants
- 2021 ESRC
Extending active life for older people with cognitive impairment through innovation in the visitor economy of the natural environment (ENLIVEN).
Publications
Books
Journal articles
Chapters
Reports
External Engagement and Impact
Editorial responsibilities
- Associate Editor, Book Reviews: Tourism Management
- Associate Editor, Tourism and Hospitality: Heliyon
- Editorial Board member: Service Business: An International Journal
Conferences and invited presentations
- Connell, J. (2022). Innovation in the outdoor visitor economy: Towards inclusivity for older people living with cognitive impairment, Symposium presentation, British Society of Gerontology Annual Conference, July 8th 2022.
- Connell, J. (2021). Working with business: Co-producing research and innovation, Symposium presentation, British Society of Gerontology Annual Conference, July 6th 2021, with Judith Phillips (Programme Director for UKRI Healthy Ageing Initiative) and Huw Vasey (ESRC).
- Connell, J. (2020). Managing seasonality in garden visitor attractions, Invited presentation at Plant Network Webinar, 17th December 2020, online.
- Connell, J. and Page, S.J. (2019) Evaluating Rethinking Heritage: A guide to help make your site more dementia-friendly, 3rd June 2019, Kensington Palace, London.
- Connell, J. and Page, S.J. (2018) Working towards a dementia-friendly tourism economy, REACH Network presentation, University of Exeter, 25th April 2018.
- Connell, J. and Togia, M. (2014) Towards an understanding of the impacts of film and television on micro and small-medium tourism enterprises, TTRA 2014, ITAM Track, Bruges, 18-20th June 2014
- Connell, J. (2014) Using events to address seasonality in Scottish visitor attractions. Invited presentation to the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions, Linlithgow, 21st May 2014
- Connell, J. (2014) The impact of ‘Broadchurch’ on tourism in West Dorset. Invited presentation to West Dorset District Council and Bridport Traders Association, West Bay, 28th April 2014
- Connell, J., Page, S.J. and Ferdinand, N. (2013) The role of special events in addressing seasonality in visitor attractions. Making Waves. International Conference on Events (ICE2013), Bournemouth University, 3-5th July 2013
- Connell, J., Page, S.J. and Bentley, T. (2012) The significance of longitudinal methodologies in sustainable tourism research. Tourism, Sustainability and Climate Change International Conference, Bournemouth University 13-15th September 2012
- ‘Issues and Prospects for the Family Tourism Market’, VisitScotland, Edinburgh, Prospects for UK Tourism Markets Seminar, 19th January 2005