module specification

London’s Visitor Economy aims to showcase the extent of visitor economy in London and encourage tourism and events students to examine its potential with regards to their studies, professional development and employability. The module will explore different dimensions of global city’s visitor economy, both in class and in the field.

With over 19 million international tourists per year, some 12 million domestic tourists in addition to over 200m day visitors, London is one of the major city destinations globally.  However this poses problems for tourism managers in terms of spreading visitors temporally and geographically within the capital, catering for very diverse visitor groups and maintaining its competitive position vis a vis rivals for leisure, events and business tourists in an uncertain international environment.

The module aims are as follows:

• To develop a practical knowledge of London’s evolving visitor offer for leisure, business and events tourists.
• To facilitate students ability to identify the needs and preferences of London’s diverse visitor groups
• To enable students to identify specific visitor experiences to suit specific tourist audiences
• To gain insight into the challenges faced by visitor managers in providing strategies, services, experiences and events for diverse visitor groups
• To become familiar with the market intelligence, tourism and events reports and strategies produced by London’s Destination Marketing Organisation to guide London’s Visitor economy.

London as a global destination – Destination Marketing Organisations and their role in gathering marketing intelligence and delivering tourism and event strategies.

The experience economy – creating an events and tourism offer to meet the needs of London’s visitors and tourists

The tourist gaze - London’s tourist bubbles – cultural quarters and heritage attractions

London’s events and entertainment sectors

Investigating London’s niche and special interest tourism and events offer: dark London; film set London; sport provision  and heritage

The rise of the ‘New Tourism Area’ - London’s villages and suburbs – the new destinations, London’s open spaces, London as a National Park City, local amenity, and festivals

Analysing the tourist offer in the field: visits to key tourism and event spaces in London eg to SouthBank, Bankside and London Bridge; the Museum of London; Roman London.

Engaging with industry professionals on visits and in the classroom

Learning Outcomes LO 1 - 3

The formal delivery of the teaching and learning will be based on three contact hours per week. The contact hours will be formed of a three-hour session comprising lecture and workshop sessions. The workshop sessions are designed to focus on the assignment task – developing a wikiguide. Field visits and industry engagement are an important part of this module. There are three field visits and a guest speaker from the City of London. The teaching sessions involve interactive lectures, discussions, group tasks (relating to the assessment tasks), video, and assessment workshops.

The Field visits involve exercises and student-centred learning. For the Thames visit students are allocated an attraction along the route to research and present to the rest of the group in the field. In the visit to the Museum of London students meet a member of staff, discuss issues relating to visitors with them and then analyse the museum galleries. The final visit involves immersive experiences designed to bring the past alive.

Students are encouraged to reflect on their learning throughout the module. Assignment 2 asks students to analyse their learning gained from engaging with London’s visitor economy and to identify the challenges they envisage in the process of moving from being a user (visitor) to a provider (supplier) in the city’s visitor economy.

Feedback is a continuous process in this module. At each stage of the assessment process students get feedback on their proposals – their choice of target visitor groups, wikiguide title; choice of attractions and places to visit in their guides. Students are encouraged to start developing their online guides early so that tutors can comment on their guides as they develop.

By the end of the module, students will be able to:

1. Describe different elements of London’s visitor economy
2. Discuss and select tourism products, events and other experiences suitable to provide satisfactory tourist experience in a chosen market
3. Demonstrate effective reflection on both, the potential and challenges that London’s visitor economy offers in terms of employability for students of the creative industries

Assessment of this module will take the form of an individual, online (Weblearn) wiki with the aim of writing a guide to London, focused on chosen socio-cultural or national group of visitors, inspired by their origin or socio-cultural background. Ideas and tasks for the wiki will be provided weekly via videos, slides, readings in daily newspapers, seminar discussions and field visits. Students will be required to work on the wiki throughout the whole semester.

A reflective essay asks students to consider the rationale for the design of their wikiguide and to reflect on their learning on the module and its application to their professional aspirations.

• City of London (2019) Discover the City of London – visitor destination strategy 2019-2023
• London and Partners London's Cultural Tourists
• London and Partners (2017)  A Tourism Vision for London 
• London and Partners (2016) The Impact of Event Tourism on London’s Economy (2016).
• The Mayor of London (2015) Take a closer look – a cultural tourism vision for London 2015-2017 Greater London Authority
• Smith A and Graham A (eds) (2019) Destination London – the expansion of the visitor economy, London: University of Westminster Press
• Pine , J. and Gilmore J.H. (2019) The experience econoy: competing for customer time, attention and money, La Vergne: Harvard Business Review Press
• Urry J and Larson J (2012) The tourist gaze 3.0, London: Sage

Websites:
• London and Partners corporate (http://www.londonandpartners.com) and public (https://www.visitlondon.com) websites

• Greater London Authority – The London Mayor has responsibility for tourism and the larger London-wide or central London events  https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/arts-and-culture

Social Media Sources:
• London and Partners YouTube channel:  htps://www.youtube.com/user/londonandpartners