A survey of doctoral theses accepted by universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland for studies related to tourism, 2000–2009

Measured up against other areas of tourism research, modest effort has been made in researching tourism education generally and tourism postgraduate studies particularly (G. Afifi, 2009). The purpose of this article is to update D. Botterill, C. Haven, and T. Gale’s (2002) research titled “A Survey of Doctoral Theses Accepted by Universities in the UK and Ireland for Studies Related to Tourism, 1990–1999.” Accordingly, this research investigates the doctoral theses accepted by universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland between 2000 and 2009. The research starts by demonstrating the previous work related to tourism postgraduate studies to identify trends and disclose associated issues. Subsequently, the research illustrates the methodological approach utilized before providing an analysis of both chronological and geographical distributions of tourism PhD theses awarded in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The research also sheds light as well on the most attractive and relatively neglected areas of tourism PhDs, which might be of a special importance for universities working on setting their PhD plans.