Professor Alan Fyall

Professor Alan Fyall – Deputy Dean Research & Enterprise.

Most people would jump at the chance to turn a lifelong passion into a successful career, and Professor Alan Fyall is one person who has managed to do just that. As a child, Alan was lucky enough to travel extensively with his parents and remembers being encouraged to “take a worldly view of things, to experience and enjoy other countries.”

Over time, this love of travel matured into a keen interest in the study of tourism, and Alan has been able to transfer his fascination with travel into a hugely successful career as an academic and author.

“My most successful book is Tourism Principles & Practice”, he says, “which is referred to in the industry as ‘The Bournemouth Book’. There were five of us that wrote it together, and three of us were from BU. It’s pretty much ‘the book’ that students will use on a Tourism Masters, and it has been translated into Mandarin, Portuguese and Spanish. It’s certainly useful for the students to be able to quiz me on what they don’t understand, that’s for sure!”

In addition, Alan has also published Marketing in Travel & Tourism, now in its fourth edition along with many other respected books and research papers.

As a respected expert within the field of tourism, it was only natural that Alan wanted to work at BU. “I was originally attracted by the excellent global reputation of tourism research here” he says. “Immediately, you have respect at conferences and industry events with international experts because you work for BU, and over the ten years I have spent at BU, that reputation has become even bigger and better.

“BU also has one of the largest concentrations of specialist tourism staff in the world. There’s a real global feel here too – not just in the nature of the research we do, but in the people. We have some fabulous staff from China, India, Canada, Egypt and across the EU – and working with a wide range of international students is also really interesting. They are all such great students too; it makes for a very rewarding and enjoyable working atmosphere.”

It’s an atmosphere and an environment that really benefits BU graduates, as Alan points out: “Our graduates have been learning from people who really are at the top of the field. All over the world, people have heard of BU’s reputation – that goes for both employers and other universities, should any students be considering a PhD. Though of course, they could always do a PhD here – we have a huge PhD community, and I’m always on the lookout for bright talent to keep here with us!”