Projects, activities and events

VivaTech 2024 - Can We Make Tourism Sustainable Panel

Professor of Marketing and Tourism and Director of The Sustainable Travel and Tourism Advanced Research Centre (STTAR Centre), Marina Novelli, was invited to contribute to the panel ‘Can We Make Tourism Sustainable’ at VivaTech in Paris on Friday 24 May 2024.

VivaTech is Europe’s largest startup and tech event, attracting over 150,000 participants, including innovators, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders. 

In the session, moderated by Ivan Gladstone (Associate Partner at McKensey & Company), Marina was joined by esteemed panellists Alexandra Dublanche (Chairwoman Chose Paris Region) and Zina Bencheikh (Managing Director EMEA Intrepid), during which they discussed the challenges and opportunities in creating a sustainable future for travel and tourism. 

Tourism summit – Nottinghamshire

Professor Marina Novelli and Dr Carol Zhang were invited to deliver a talk at a tourism summit organised by Visit Nottinghamshire during the British Tourism Week on 21 March 2024.Over 200 local and national visit economy professionals, including government officials attended the event.

Professor Novelli gave an overview of the research centre and how it could support the local visitor economy. Dr Zhang gave a talk on ways in which we can create a more inclusive Nottinghamshire experience. She also introduced our MSc International Tourism Marketing and Management course, inviting industry partnerships.

We had a lot of follow-up conversations with industry and public sectors, including Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottingham conference centre, the library, poetry festival etc.

Professor Marina Novelli held an event in March for colleagues pursuing or interested in developing collaborations between arts and business research. Stemming from Marina's own previous experience working at the intersection between these fields, such as  the Building Bridges for Contemporary Arts - Africa (BBCA-A) initiative, the event  offered an interdisciplinary forum  where networking, creative thinking, and  identifying opportunities for collaboration were encouraged.

The event was well attended with participants from across the university and from arts and tourism representatives from the wider Nottingham community.The discussion highlighted several areas for future collaboration , including technology and sustainability, storytelling for policy change, mental health and wellbeing, entrepreneurship, and business and consumer behaviour.

Professor Marina Novelli joined colleagues from the WEF-GFC on the Future for Sustainable Tourism in Dubai to discuss some of the most critical issues and collaborate in shaping agendas for the future of sustainable tourism.

Over two days, members of the Council devised a programme of work and discussed a set of key priorities that included measures to achieve net zero, interventions to make working conditions in tourism fairer and ways to encourage travellers to be more responsible while travelling.

The Dubai Forum also provided participants with an opportunity to listen and contribute to broader discussion on issues relating to sustainable and responsible business practices, policy requirements and much more. 

Professor Marina Novelli (FASC) is a globally recognised authority in the field of tourism policy, planning and development. She joined Nottingham University Business School’s Marketing Department in October 2023 as a Professor of Marketing and Tourism.

As the recipient of the prestigious Leverhulme International Fellowship (IF), Marina is delivering a programme of research and knowledge exchange on Accelerating youth entrepreneurship in tourism for sustainable development throughout 2024 in collaboration with partners from Kenya and South Africa, where she has spent the past two and a half months.

Marina spent five weeks in between Nairobi and the coastal area of Mombasa in Kenya, followed by four weeks in Pretoria and Nelspruit in South Africa. You can read the full details on our blog.

Travel Cultures Network.

The main purpose of the network is to offer a space for exchange and reflection on questions concerning cultures and practices of travel.