The importance of using local food and drink to develop a “Sense of Place,” create a unique visitor experience and differentiate tourism destinations while providing economic benefits to the local community cannot be underestimated. This paper will present research commissioned by Adventa, Monmouthshire's LEADER + programme, which was designed to develop a Sense of Monmouthshire training module aimed at tourism businesses in Monmouthshire. While the training module specifically focuses on Monmouthshire there are generic lessons about the use of local food and drink. A “Sense of Place” can be used to exploit the unique attributes of a destination, but it needs to be selectively customised by individual businesses to exploit the distinctive social and cultural characteristics of a destination and provide a unique visitation experience. Through an integrated and holistic approach to tourism development the Sense of Monmouthshire training module should help to extend the tourism season, enhance quali...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose the development and adoption of a Lean Six Sigma Framework (LSSF) that attempts to create a more balanced and integrated approach between Lean and Six Sigma and one that is capable of achieving improved efficacy of curriculum and programme development in a higher education environment. The implementation of the LSSF is new to the higher education sector. Design/methodology/approach: Using the standard DMAIC cycle as the key driver in the implementation process, most in-depth Lean Six Sigma (LSS) case studies have focussed on manufacturing and engineering-based problems and solutions. This case study offers a detailed analysis of the design and implementation of an integrated LSSF within higher education and focusses primarily on the curriculum design and delivery of a new undergraduate engineering programme in a subject university. As such, this offers a unique perspective of LSS implementation in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) which drives systems improvements in to the heart of the teaching and learning process. Findings: The design, development and subsequent application of the LSSF enabled the curriculum development team to comprehensively apply LSS in to a subject institution. The Shainin Key Variables Search Technique (KVST) more specifically enabled the team to prioritise the key variables by way of order of importance and, this allowed the team to apply the most appropriate tools and techniques at the key points within the LSSF in order to obtain maximum performance. Research limitations/implications: Whilst this work provides key information on how LSS initiatives are implemented across different institution types, the work has only focussed at a very small sample of HEIs and the case study only being applied to one institution. The work will need to be extended much more widely to incorporate a larger set of HEIs (both research and teaching focussed) in order to provide a more complete map of LSS development in HEIs. Practical implications: The aim of the paper is to provide LSS project leaders in HEIs with a coherent and balanced LSSF in an attempt to assist them in implementing comprehensive LSS programmes thus maximising the improvements in efficiency and operational performance of departments within HEIs. Originality/value: This paper is the first of its kind to study the application of Shainin’s KVST in the implementation of LSS programmes in HEIs. The key features highlighted in this work raise important issues regarding the need and importance of developing a balanced LSSF for HEI project implementation.

The Index of Theses provided the single source for multiple searches utilizing the following key words: ‘holiday’, ‘holidaymaker’, ‘holidays’, ‘tourism’, ‘tourist’, ‘tourists’, ‘travel’, ‘visitor’ and ‘visitors’. A refined list of 149 doctoral theses accepted by universities in the UK and Ireland between 1990 and 1999 is reported. Results of the survey are reported for awarding university and year of acceptance, subject categories, location of fieldwork and methods of data collection and analysis. The universities of Strathclyde and Surrey accepted just over a quarter of all theses in the reported period. The frequency of accepted theses rose from four in 1990 to 29 in 1997 with a mean yearly average since 1996 of 23. Twenty-two subject categories were created. Four frequent areas of study were reported; development, impact, behaviour and industry and these accounted for approximately half of the theses. Fieldwork locations were spread across the major regions of the world with studies of the UK comprising less than a quarter of the theses. The analysis of methods confirms the prevailing influence of positivist (questionnaire) and hermeneutic (interview) epistemologies in these studies of tourism.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have had a significant impact on both the travel and tourism experience and industry. In particular, destination marketing organizations (DMOs) have found ICT a powerful ally to harmonize and coordinate the activities of local stakeholders as well as to reach travellers. The aim of this research is to analyse destination brand communication strategies, especially those applied to online communication (official websites, social media and mobile applications). Data were collected from Spanish destinations – regions, provinces and cities – via an online survey addressed to destination brand and communication managers. Results show that destination brand communication is not fully standardized or professionalized yet; online tools (websites, social media and mobile applications) are used tactically and not strategically and the usefulness of social media and official websites is clearly more appreciated by DMO managers than the usefulness of mobile applications.