London is one of the world’s most popular destinations and visitors contribute approximately £14.9 billion of expenditure to the city every year. Its tourism and events sectors are growing and over the last few years London has received more visitors than ever before. However, detailed accounts of the city’s visitor economy are conspicuously absent. This book analyses how the capital is developing as a destination through the expansion of tourism and events into new urban spaces. The book outlines how parts of London not previously regarded as tourist territory are now subject to the visitor gaze with tourism spreading beyond established central zones into peripheral, suburban and residential areas – in part propelled by a big rise in peer to peer accommodation use. Simultaneously, London’s airports and sports stadiums and their surrounds are becoming destinations in their own right. New vantage points have been created, allowing tourists to explore the city: from above, at night-time or through tours given by the homeless; via the opening up of the River Thames; or through the transformation of local parks into eventscapes. The book explores these trends and shows how urban destinations expand. In doing so, it enhances our understanding of London and highlights the growing significance of tourism and events in global cities.

Aiming to unite theory and practice, this volume addresses the gap between the academic literature on urban destination marketing and the manner in which it is actually undertaken by destination marketing organisations (DMOs). It includes 21 in-depth interviews with senior DMO executives, to allow practitioners to describe in their own words how they conduct their marketing activities.

Although blurred and heavily contested, the concept of ’tourist destination’ still deserves careful attention. Despite its unstable characteristics, ’destination’ is a central and meaningful term in play among all parties in the field of tourism, including tourists, tourism operators, and politicians, as well as students and tourism scholars. This anthology draws on different approaches and discourses of tourism destination development, while focusing on how they are shaped and reshaped and how they should be read and rehearsed. The book reveals dominant as well as alternative approaches to the field. The authors demonstrate how tourism destinations are commercial, but socially embedded; how they are both material and territorial, but at the same time socially constructed; how production of touristic brands and images are vital, but contested. Such tensions are unfolded through paradigmatic discussions and a series of case studies from the northern hemisphere. The chapters in the book investigate how destination development is catalysed through theming, how changing environments lead to reorientations, and how destinations are political. Altogether, the book provides experts and students with an up-to-date theoretical and empirical insight into tourist destinations.

Tourism Destination Quality: Attributes and Dimensions critically compares dimensions of tourism destination quality established in the TDQ study with dimensions of product quality, service quality, place quality and destination service/product quality.

This book provides a wide-ranging overview of the current state of tourist destination management and presents important recent research in the field. Contemporary theoretical and methodological approaches to management and marketing are discussed, and innovative practices with respect to both urban and rural destinations are described with the aid of many interesting case studies from across Europe and beyond. In addition, the volume addresses key issues such as governance, cooperation, the use of social media, and sustainability. A variety of influences on tourism development are examined, and efficient strategies for making destinations distinct are explored. The book will be a welcome addition and update to the existing literature and will be of interest to academics and practitioners alike.

Tourism has become one of the largest and fastest growing sectors in the world economy. Increasingly, research on tourism destinations has been at the centre of debates concerning destination competitiveness, governance, policies and destination management and marketing. This book investigates tourist destinations from two different perspectives. First, it approaches destinations using the concept of tourist clusters and investigates their role in competitiveness and firm performances. The second perspective studies the development of models of competitiveness and governance. It also develops an international benchmarking system of 15-EU countries, with an additional focus on Italy, UK and United States. The book will appeal to academics, scholars and practitioners in tourism studies, management, urban and regional studies and economic geography, etc.

Tourism in European Cities explores the relationship between tourist activity and the architecture and built environment within which it takes place. This is the first book to consider urban tourism with a particular focus on European cities. Tourism in European Cities considers the tourist experience and the various elements that shape it. In many cities, the historic core plays a crucial role in tourism either as the location of the more important attractions, or as an attraction in its own right. The book dedicates a chapter to urban heritage and its relationship to tourism, including urban conservation and UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Another chapter considers contemporary architecture and debates some cities’ efforts to use iconic architecture, in particular, to enhance their attractiveness in the context of increased competition between cities. In the context of competition, many cities are resorting to events as a strategy to reposition and differentiate themselves from other cities. Major events are accompanied by major investment in event venues and in urban infrastructure. The city often serves as a backdrop to the urban festival as activities and performances are staged in the city’s urban spaces. This book is essential reading for students of tourism and urban geography. It is also of interest to students of urban planning and architecture, and anyone keen to learn more about tourism and European cities.

A lively new history of London told through twenty-five buildings, from iconic Georgian townhouses to the Shard A walk along any London street takes you past a wealth of seemingly ordinary buildings: an Edwardian church, modernist postwar council housing, stuccoed Italianate terraces, a Bauhaus-inspired library. But these buildings are not just functional. They are evidence of London's rich and diverse history and have shaped people's experiences, identities, and relationships. In this engaging study, Paul L. Knox traces the history of London from the Georgian era to the present day through twenty-five surviving buildings. Knox explores where people lived and worked, from grand Regency squares to Victorian workshops, and highlights the impact of migration, gentrification, and inequality. We see famous buildings, like Harrods and Abbey Road Studios, and everyday places like Rochelle Street School and Thamesmead. Each historical period has introduced new buildings, and old ones have been repurposed. As Knox shows, it is the living history of these buildings that makes up the vibrant, but exceptionally unequal, city of today.

The tourism market is fiercely competitive. No other market place has as many brands competing for attention, and yet only a handful of countries account for 75% of the world’s visitor arrivals. The other 200 or so are left to fight for a share of the remaining 25%. Therefore, destination marketers at city, state and national levels have arguably, a far more challenging role than other services or consumer goods marketers. Destination Marketing: an integrated marketing communication approach focuses on the five core tenets of integrated marketing communications. These embody both the opportunities and challenges facing Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs), and are: 1. Profitable customer relationships; 2. Enhancing stakeholder relationships; 3. Cross-functional processes; 4. Stimulating purposeful dialogue with customers; and 5. Generating message synergy The author seeks to provide a rationale for DMOs; to develop a structure, roles and goals of DMOs; to examine the key challenges and constraints facing DMOs; to impart a destination branding process; to develop a philosophy of integrated marketing communications; to lead the emergence of visitor and stakeholder relationship management; and to set forth options for performance measurement.