Dr Seonyoung Kim
Principal Lecturer
Summary
I am a Principal Lecturer in Tourism Management. I have a range of teaching and research interests, including urban tourism, tourism policy and planning, destination management and marketing, and accessible tourism.
About
I am a Principal Lecturer in Tourism Management. I studied Tourism Management at undergraduate level and worked for a major tour operator in South Korea before I came to the UK. I completed both an MSc in Sustainable Tourism and a PhD titled 'Tourism-related urban regeneration in two UK city regions' at Sheffield Business School (SBS), Sheffield Hallam University. I started to teach tourism for SBS in 2008 as an Associate Lecturer and joined the Tourism Subject Group as a full-time lecturer in 2012. I was a Course Leader for postgraduate tourism courses and then the Subject Group Leader for Tourism between 2016 and 2021. I am now on secondment with the University's Academic Strategy team. I have taught a wide range of tourism subjects and supervised postgraduate and doctoral students. My teaching and research interests lie with tourism and urban regeneration, the visitor economy, tourism policy and planning, destination management and marketing, and accessible tourism.
Principal Lecturer
Teaching
Department of Service Sector Management
Sheffield Business School
Tourism and Hospitality Management
BSc (Hons) International Tourism Management
BSc (Hons) International Tourism and Hospitality Business Management
BSc (Hons) Airline and Airport Management
MSc International Tourism Management
MSc International Hospitality and Tourism Management
MSc International Tourism and Aviation Management
I have taught a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules including Tourism Planning and Development, International Air Travel Management, Research Methods, and Dissertation.
Research
- Social and Economic Research Institute
Tourism, poverty and inequality
Projected and perceived destination image
Comparative destination image analysis
Sustainable aviation and the climate emergency
Attitudes to sustainable lifestyles and behavioural transition
Accessible tourism
Publications
Journal articles
Winter, T., Kim, S., & Palmer, N. (2025). Tourism-driven inclusive growth – insights from Brazil’s Northeast. Tourism Planning & Development. http://doi.org/10.1080/21568316.2025.2499520
Kim, S., & Adu-Ampong, E.A. (2024). Disabilities, functionings and capabilities: the capability approach in accessible tourism. Current Issues in Tourism. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13683500.2023.2300989
Winter, T., & Kim, S. (2020). Exploring the relationship between tourism and poverty using the capability approach. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 1-19. http://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2020.1865385
Schofield, P., Coromina, L., Camprubi, R., & Kim, S. (2020). An Analysis of First Time and Repeat-Visitor Destination Images through the Prism of the Three Factor Theory of Consumer Satisfaction. Journal of Destination Marketing and Management, 17, 100463. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2020.100463
Kim, S. (2020). Inter-municipal relations in city-region governance. Cities, 104, 102771. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2020.102771
Kim, S., & Bramwell, B. (2019). Boundaries and boundary crossing in tourism: A study of policy work for tourism and urban regeneration. Tourism Management, 75, 78-89. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2019.04.019
Book chapters
Kim, S.Y., Gassiot-Melian, A., & Prats, L. (2025). Creating accessible food tourism experiences for people with sensory disabilities. In Halpern, N., Rickly, J., Garrod, B., & Hansen, M. (Eds.) Handbook of Accessible Tourism. De Gruyter: https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/isbn/9783111316130/html
Doran, A., & Kim, S. (2023). Nature and Time. In Goulding, P. (Ed.) Tourism: A temporal analysis. Oxford: Goodfellow Publishers: http://doi.org/10.23912/9781911635840-5447
Winter, T., Kim, S., & Palmer, N. (2021). Where is 'The Poor' in Pro-poor VCA?-A Review of Applying Pro-poor VCA in a Coastal Tourism Destination in the Northeast of Brazil. In Inclusive Tourism Futures. (pp. 80-103).
Theses / Dissertations
Winter, T. (2019). Poverty and Inequality:Exploring the Role of Tourismin Brazil's Northeast. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Kim, S. http://doi.org/10.7190/shu-thesis-00234
Presentations
Kim, S.Y. (2021). Promoting accessible tourism for people with sensory impairment. Presented at: CHME Annual Conference, Sheffield Hallam University
Kim, S.Y., & Adu-Ampong, E. (2019). Assessing accessible tourism research. Presented at: ATLAS Annual Conference, Girona, Spain
Kim, S.Y. (2016). Raising students' awareness of Accessible Tourism in the learning experience.
Kim, S.Y. (2012). Resource dependency and power relations in tourism-related urban regeneration.
Kim, S.Y. (2012). Tourism and Urban Regeneration: Separate or Integrated Policy Fields, Actors and Networks.
Other activities
I am an Executive Committee member of the Association for Tourism in Higher Education (ATHE).
Postgraduate supervision
To date, I have supervised two PhD students in the areas of:
Tourism, poverty and inequality
Foodservice SMEs and tourism network