Tourism Management Institute research with 91 destination leaders reveals shrinking teams, falling funding and gaps in tourism leadership across the UK and Ireland.
The ‘State of Destination-Making 2026’, a new report from the Tourism Management Institute (tmi), has revealed the growing pressure on the organisations and people responsible for supporting the UK and Ireland’s visitor economies.
Co-authored by Dr Peter Robinson of Leeds Beckett University and Dr Natalie Semley of Falmouth University, the report draws on responses from 91 destination leaders and paints a picture of a sector of major economic importance operating with increasingly limited capacity.
The UK visitor economy contributed around £147 billion to the economy in 2024, supporting 2.4 million jobs and generating around £52 billion in tax revenues. Yet tmi’s research finds that the infrastructure supporting destinations is considerably more fragile.
Among the findings:
- Half of responding organisations have five or fewer full-time staff
- Around one in six has no full-time staff at all
- More than half say their core funding has fallen since 2022
- More than half report that their local authority has no dedicated tourism lead
- Small teams are increasingly being expected to deliver against a much broader agenda, spanning economic growth, place-making, sustainability, skills, communities and visitor experience
The report argues that the challenge is not simply about tourism marketing. Destination professionals are increasingly being asked to convene partners, manage places, support businesses, demonstrate economic and social impact and respond to major structural change, often without the resources or recognition to match.
Dr Peter Robinson, Head of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management at Leeds Beckett University and co-author of the report, said:
“There is a fundamental contradiction at the heart of our visitor economy. We rightly celebrate tourism’s contribution to jobs, businesses, and economic growth, yet too often overlook the people and organisations responsible for making that success possible. This much-needed research reveals a growing disconnect between the expectations placed on destination leaders and the resources available to them. They are increasingly responsible for economic development, sustainability, skills and community wellbeing, often while operating with small teams, shrinking budgets and limited capacity. Successful destinations do not happen by accident. They require effective leadership, specialist expertise, strong partnerships and sustained investment. We cannot expect a £147 billion visitor economy to thrive while the organisations underpinning it are continually being asked to deliver more with less. If we are serious about the future of our destinations, we must recognise destination management as essential economic infrastructure, not an optional extra.”
Dr Natalie Semley, Associate Professor of Tourism and Destination Management at Falmouth University and co-author of the report, said:
“Behind the headline value of the visitor economy are people working extraordinarily hard to make destinations function. What the research shows is that many are doing so with very small teams, reduced resources and growing responsibilities. There is enormous resilience and innovation across the sector, but resilience cannot become a substitute for proper capacity. If we want visitor economies that work for businesses, communities and visitors, the people responsible for shaping them need the tools and support to do the job.”
Rather than simply documenting the pressures facing the sector, the report identifies four priorities for strengthening destination-making:
Recognise it: give the visitor economy and the people responsible for developing it greater recognition within national and local policy.
Resource it: build greater stability and capacity into the destination system rather than relying on continually stretched teams and short-term funding.
Connect it: strengthen the links between national policy and local delivery, between destinations themselves, and between industry, academia and government.
Equip it: ensure all destination professionals have access to the skills, evidence, data and practical tools required for an increasingly complex role.
The research also forms part of a wider shift in tmi’s own focus towards connecting the UK and Ireland’s destination-makers recognising that responsibility for successful visitor economies now stretches well beyond traditional tourism roles.
The report will be launched at the tmi Annual Convention on 15 October 2026, where its findings will provide a starting point for discussion about how the sector responds to the challenges ahead.
Kathryn Davis, President, Tourism Management Institute, and CEO Visit West said:
“This research matters because it gives us the evidence that many people across the sector have been feeling for some time. The role of tourism and the impact of the visitor economy is hugely important, but too much of the system supporting it is operating on fragile foundations. The answer is not simply to ask already-stretched destination teams to do more, or cut services deemed as not profitable enough. We need to recognise the role they play, connect the system more effectively, acknowledge their professional skills and make sure destination-makers have the capacity to deliver the outcomes we increasingly expect from them”.
The ‘State of Destination-Making 2026’ is available to download at
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ACOZHUv774jpOFzTxYcSgJtiFi0tGOa6/view?usp=sharing
