Anna Leask

Anna Leask is a Professor of Tourism Management at Edinburgh Napier University's Business School and a leading figure in the Tourism Research Centre. Her work spans research, teaching, industry collaboration, policy advising, and international engagement, with a focus on sustainable tourism practices, heritage management, and dementia-friendly destination design.

• PhD supervision in areas like film-induced tourism, festival management, and intercultural communication
• Editorial board member for five international tourism journals
• Visiting Professor at Wakayama University (2015-2019)
• Active in Scottish Government Tourism Recovery Taskforce and Skills Development Scotland

Research interests include:

• International visitor attraction management
• World Heritage site designation and community engagement
• Multi-generational workforce dynamics in tourism
• Co-creation of experiences through technology and placemaking

Her recent publications explore lighter dark tourism, dementia-friendly tourism, and sustainable festival cities. She has co-edited Managing Visitor Attractions (2022) and contributed to journals like Tourism Management and Journal of Travel Research. Key awards:

• Fellow of the Tourism Society
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Anna's industry partnerships include Scottish Enterprise's Destination Leaders’ Programme and consultancies on visitor-facing employee retention. She teaches across Edinburgh, Switzerland, Corsica, and Hong Kong, embedding research into curriculum development.