Dr Davina Stanford

Associate, England, UK

Experience

Davina has 22 years of experience in sustainable tourism as a researcher and. Her research has focused on promoting sustainable tourism for partnerships, destinations and individuals in environmentally and culturally sensitive destinations. Consultancy projects with TEAM Tourism Consulting and others focussed primarily on best practice in destination management for a range of clients including destination management organisations, local authorities, regional, national and international agencies (e.g. the Northwest Development Agency, Natural England, VisitEngland, UNEP and UNWTO), small businesses, and local community groups.

She sits on the board of Ninki Nanka Foundation – a charity which supports the responsible tourism development along the River Gambia.

From 2011 – 2021 Davina was Director of the Responsible Tourism Management  Masters courses at Leeds Beckett University where she took the strategic lead for developing teaching and research programmes.

Core skills and qualifications

Davina has a BA Hons in Combined Studies from the University of Glamorgan, UK; a MA in Tourism and Leisure from Lancaster University, UK; and a PhD Responsible Tourist Behaviour from Victoria University of Wellington, NZ.

Specialisms

Davina’s specialisms include:

• Extensive stakeholder and community engagement
• Tourist trail development
• Responsible tourism management, in particular product development which can be used to benefit local communities whilst enhancing environmental benefits
• Green behaviour and persuasive communication, in particular the use of social marketing to encourage sustainable behaviours.