Dr Lorna Thomas

Programme Director for:

MSc Tourism and Event Management

BSc Tourism Management and BSc Tourism Studies.

Academic Link Tutor: Compass College, Hong Kong.

Before that she was responsible for the Tourism and Events Programmes in the Higher Education Department of Canterbury College, which were validated by the University of Kent and Greenwich University. She has also been Module Leader for Global Tourism on the Masters Programme at the University of Kent, as well as lecturing on several undergraduate modules.

Her academic interests lie primarily in Ethics of Tourism, Dark Tourism, WW1 Battle Sites (with special interest in motivations and emotions of visiting), Tourism in the Developing World (with particular interest in Africa), Sustainable Tourism, and Cultural and Heritage Tourism.

Lorna gained her PhD in 'An Investigation into Motivations of Visitors to Dark Sites' from Canterbury Christ Church University, and a MA in Cultural Studies from the University of Greenwich.

Before entering into the academic world Lorna worked in the Travel and Tourism industry, including a position as trainer for new travel consultants for British Airways Business Travel.

Current teaching responsibilities:

Programme Director for the MSc Tourism and Event Management and the BSc Tourism Management and BSc Tourism Studies programmes.

MSc

• Visitor Management (Module Lead)
• Dissertation Supervisor
• BSc/Ba Year one
• Contemporary Tourism (contributor)
• Introduction to Tourism (Module Lead)

Year Two

• Managing Tourism Organisations (Module Lead)
• Event Operational Staging (contributor)

Year Three

• Service Management (Module Lead)
• Mega, Hall-mark and Large Scale Events (Module Lead)
• Individual Study and Research Project supervisor

Other

• • External Examiner for Travel and Tourism Guilford College/University of Surrey.
  • External Examiner for the Foundation Degree in Events Management at the University of Gloucestershire.
  • Link Tutor for the HNC Travel and Tourism at East Kent College.

Lorna is an active member of the Tourism and Events Research Hub, and recently co-authored a report commissioned by UKinbound called 'Breaking the Language Barrier' which was launched in the House of Commons. 

Memberships

• Chair ATLAS Annual Conference September 2016
• Chair/Director for the symposium on 'World War One as a Visitor Attraction', October 2013.Member of the First World War Centenary Partnership
• Committee Member and Academic Lead for the Institute of Tourist Guiding, Green Badge Guides Canterbury.
• Examiner Green Badge Guides Canterbury.
• Advisor to Creativity Travel Ltd.
• Member of Tourism Concern.

External activities

University of Kent, Canterbury - Guest Lecturer

• Master’s Programme 2012: ‘Dark Tourism in Asia and Africa’
• Undergraduate Programmes 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016: ‘Ethics and Tourism’ and ‘Introduction to Dark Tourism’

University of Iceland, Reykjavik - Guest Lecturer (Erasmus Programme)

• Undergraduate Programme 2013: ‘Introduction to Dark Tourism’ and ‘Ethics and Tourism’ and ‘Globalisation and the Mega Event’.

Conference presentations

• 'The Importance of Tourist Guidebooks on Decision Making' GLOBE 2018 , Sarasorta. Florida.
• 'I am not a Dark Tourist' ATLAS 2016, Canterbury.
• 'A Psychology of Dark Tourism Motivations' ATLAS 2014 Budapest
• 'Death as a Visitor Attraction' CCCU Business School seminar series. June 2013.
• 'The Emotions of Teenagers Visiting World War One Battle Sites' World War One as a Visitor Attraction Symposium, CCCU. October 2013.
• ‘Economic and Socio-cultural Impacts of Dark Tourism; A Comparison of Specific Attractions in Cambodia and Vietnam’. Limassol, Cyprus 2010.