Inaugural Lecture - Professor Brendan Paddison

Professor Brendan Paddison explores the challenges and possibilities facing tourism in an era of climate crisis, overtourism and growing social inequality.

Tourism is one of the world’s largest industries, yet its rapid expansion raises important questions about who benefits, who bears the costs, and whether current approaches to sustainable tourism go far enough. Drawing on his research in tourism, sustainability and spatial justice, Professor Paddison examines the contradictions between tourism’s economic importance and its environmental and social impacts. The lecture invites audiences to rethink how tourism is governed, developed and experienced, and to reflect on whether the way we travel today is compatible with the future that we want.