Dr Michael O'Regan

Senior Lecturer in Tourism, Business

+44 (0) 1792

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Research Links

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8177-2739

ResearchGate

Google Scholar

Scopus

Available For Postgraduate Supervision

About

Michael O'Regan worked alongside the National Tourism Development Authority of Ireland when he joined Gulliver - Ireland's Information and Reservation Service in 1997 after he completed his two-year research Masters at the University of Limerick. He joined Wicklow County Tourism, Ireland as Marketing Executive in 1997 for three years before starting a PhD programme at the School of Sport and Service Management, University of Brighton, UK which he completed in 2011. He spent four years in China, before joining Bournemouth University in 2015 as a Senior Academic. He joined Swansea University as Senior lecturer in International Tourism Management in 2021.

Michael's research is focused on tourist, urban, historic, future, alternative, lifestyle, slow and cultural mobilities, backpacking and outbound Chinese tourism.

His media appearances include CNN Travel, The Mirror, South China Morning Post and the Times.

Areas Of Expertise

Backpacking
Chinese Outbound Tourism
Experience Economy
Hitchhiking
Sharing Economy
Tourism
Airbnb
Alternative travel

Career Highlights

Teaching Interests

Dr O’Regan teaches at post undergraduate and postgraduate level, in the areas of tourism, the experience economy, digital marketing, events and mobilities.

Award Highlights Collaborations

Publications

Research Highlights

O'Regan, M. & Choe, J. (2022). #overtourism on Twitter: a social movement for change or an echo chamber?. Current Issues in Tourism, 0, 1-14.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2022.2047161, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59574
O'Regan, M. (2022). Motor Coach Tourism. Encyclopedia of Tourism (pp. 1-2). Springer International Publishing
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_615-2, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59397
O'Regan, M., Salazar, N., Choe, J., & Buhalis, D. (2022). Unpacking overtourism as a discursive formation through interdiscursivity. Tourism Review, 77(1), 54-71.
https://doi.org/10.1108/tr-12-2020-0594, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59081
Choe, J., O'Regan, M., Kimbu, A., Lund, N., & Ladkin, A. (2021). Quality of life perspectives for different social groups in a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure. Tourist Studies, 21(4), 615-637.
https://doi.org/10.1177/14687976211038758, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58329
O'Regan, M. (2021). From its drifter past to nomadic futures: future directions in backpacking research and practice. Tourist Studies, 21(1), 45-56.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1468797621990974, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58330
Choe, J., O'Regan, M., & Kimbu, A. (2020). Filipino migrant workers’ leisure and subjective quality of life in Macao. World Leisure Journal, 62(3), 242-260.
https://doi.org/10.1080/16078055.2020.1798052, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58331
O'Regan, M., Choe, J., & Giovine, M. (2019). Reframing and Reconceptualising Gambling tourism in Macau as a Chinese Pilgrimage. Tourism Geographies, 21(3), 508-528.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2018.1545248, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59200
O'Regan, M. & Choe, J. (2019). Managing a non-profit hospitality platform conversion: The case of Couchsurfing.com. Tourism Management Perspectives, 30, 138-146.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2019.02.018, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58332
O'Regan, M. (2018). Backpacking’s future and its drifter past. Journal of Tourism Futures, 4(3), 193-204.
https://doi.org/10.1108/jtf-04-2018-0019, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58333
O'Regan, M. (2018). Critical event studies: approaches to research. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 22(3), 271-272.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14775085.2018.1498151, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58334

All Research

Journal Articles

O'Regan, M. & Choe, J. (2022). #overtourism on Twitter: a social movement for change or an echo chamber?. Current Issues in Tourism, 0, 1-14.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2022.2047161, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59574
O'Regan, M., Salazar, N., Choe, J., & Buhalis, D. (2022). Unpacking overtourism as a discursive formation through interdiscursivity. Tourism Review, 77(1), 54-71.
https://doi.org/10.1108/tr-12-2020-0594, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59081
Choe, J., O'Regan, M., Kimbu, A., Lund, N., & Ladkin, A. (2021). Quality of life perspectives for different social groups in a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure. Tourist Studies, 21(4), 615-637.
https://doi.org/10.1177/14687976211038758, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58329
O'Regan, M. (2021). From its drifter past to nomadic futures: future directions in backpacking research and practice. Tourist Studies, 21(1), 45-56.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1468797621990974, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58330
Choe, J., O'Regan, M., & Kimbu, A. (2020). Filipino migrant workers’ leisure and subjective quality of life in Macao. World Leisure Journal, 62(3), 242-260.
https://doi.org/10.1080/16078055.2020.1798052, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58331
O'Regan, M. (2019). Post-Colonial Macau: hope and despair in a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure. Via Tourism Review(16)
https://doi.org/10.4000/viatourism.4469, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59313
O'Regan, M., Choe, J., & Giovine, M. (2019). Reframing and Reconceptualising Gambling tourism in Macau as a Chinese Pilgrimage. Tourism Geographies, 21(3), 508-528.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2018.1545248, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59200
O'Regan, M. & Choe, J. (2019). Managing a non-profit hospitality platform conversion: The case of Couchsurfing.com. Tourism Management Perspectives, 30, 138-146.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2019.02.018, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58332
O'Regan, M. (2018). Backpacking’s future and its drifter past. Journal of Tourism Futures, 4(3), 193-204.
https://doi.org/10.1108/jtf-04-2018-0019, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58333
O'Regan, M. (2018). Critical event studies: approaches to research. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 22(3), 271-272.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14775085.2018.1498151, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58334
O'Regan, M. & Choe, J. (2017). Airbnb and cultural capitalism: enclosure and control within the sharing economy. Anatolia, 28(2), 163-172.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13032917.2017.1283634, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58339
O'Regan, M. (2016). A backpacker habitus: the body and dress, embodiment and the self. Annals of Leisure Research, 19(3), 329-346.
https://doi.org/10.1080/11745398.2016.1159138, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58336
O'Regan, M. (2015). Methodological Bricolage: A Journey on the Road Less Traveled in Tourism Studies. Tourism Analysis, 20(5), 457-467.
https://doi.org/10.3727/108354215x14265319207434, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58344
O'Regan, M. (2015). Book review: David Picard and Michael Di Giovine (eds), Tourism and the Power of Otherness: Seductions of Difference, Clevedon, Channel View Publications. Tourist Studies, 15(2), 222-224.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1468797614563438, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58340
Choe, J., Chick, G., & O'Regan, M. (2015). Meditation as a kind of leisure: the similarities and differences in the United States. Leisure Studies, 34(4), 420-437.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2014.923497, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58341
O'Regan, M. & Chang, H. (2015). Smartphone Adoption amongst Chinese Youth during Leisure-based Tourism: Challenges and Opportunities. Journal of China Tourism Research, 11(3), 238-254.
https://doi.org/10.1080/19388160.2015.1077181, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58346
O'Regan, M. (2015). A cosmopolitan journey? Difference, distinction and identity work in gap year travel, by Helene Snee. Tourism Geographies, 17(3), 498-499.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2014.1000958, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58338
O'Regan, M. (2013). Liminal Landscapes Travel, Experience and Spaces in-between. Tourism Management, 38, 13-14.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2013.02.006, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58347
O'Regan, M. (2011). On the Edge of Chaos: European Aviation and Disrupted Mobilities. Mobilities, 6(1), 21-30.
https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2011.532649, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58348

Book Chapters

O'Regan, M. (2022). Motor Coach Tourism. Encyclopedia of Tourism (pp. 1-2). Springer International Publishing
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_615-2, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59397
O'Regan, M. & Choe, J. (2015). Developing Student Engagement in China Through Collaborative Action Research. Tourism Education: Global Issues and Trends (pp. 153-167). Emerald Group Publishing Limited
https://doi.org/10.1108/s1571-504320150000021008, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58337
O'Regan, M. (2013). Fragmenting tourism: niche tourists. In Scott McCabe (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Tourism MarketingRoutledge
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315858265.ch20, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58353
O'Regan, M. (2013). Others have the clock but we have time: Alternative lifestyle mobilities and the resurgence of hitchhiking. In Tara Duncan, Scott A. Cohen, Maria Thulemark (Ed.), Lifestyle Mobilities: Intersections of Travel, Leisure and MigrationRoutledge
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58345
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315592404-3/others-clock-time-michael-regan
O'Regan, M. (2013). Couchsurfing through the lens of agential realism: intra-active constructions of identity and challenging the subject-object dualism.. In O. Moufakkir and Y. Reisinger (Ed.), The host gaze in global tourism (pp. 161-177). CABI
https://doi.org/10.1079/9781780640211.0161, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58350
O'Regan, M. (2012). 10. Alternative Mobility Cultures and the Resurgence of Hitch-hiking. In Simone Fullagar, Kevin Markwell and Erica Wilson (Ed.), Slow Tourism: Experiences and Mobilities (pp. 128-142). Channel View Publications
https://doi.org/10.21832/9781845412821-012, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58351
http://dx.doi.org/10.21832/9781845412821-012
O'Regan, M. (2010). Chapter 6. Backpacker Hostels: Place and Performance. In Kevin Hannam and Anya Diekmann (Ed.), Beyond Backpacker Tourism: Mobilities and Experiences (pp. 85-101). Channel View Publications
https://doi.org/10.21832/9781845411329-009, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58352
O'Regan, M. (2009). New Technologies of the Self and Social Networking Sites: Hospitality Exchange Clubs and the Changing Nature of Tourism and Identity. In Yasmine Abbas; Fred Dervin (Ed.), Digital Technologies of the Self (pp. 171-198). Cambridge Scholars Publishing,
https://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.4378.9600, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58355
https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-4438-1419-5
O'Regan, M. (2008). Hypermobility in backpacker lifestyles: the emergence of the internet café. In P. M. Burns and M. Novelli (Ed.), Tourism and mobilities: local-global connections (pp. 109-132). CABI
https://doi.org/10.1079/9781845934040.0109, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58335
Burns, P. & O'Regan, M. (2008). Everyday techno-social devices in everyday travel life: digital audio devices in solo travelling lifestyles.. Tourism and mobilities: local-global connections (pp. 146-186). CABI
https://doi.org/10.1079/9781845934040.0146, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58342

Taught Modules

MN-2062 Visitor Experience Design and Management

Today, consumers search for extraordinary and memorable experiences. However, rapidly changing marketplaces and technologies present opportunities and challenges to tourism mangers, who must create, deliver, assess and redesign impactful visitor experiences. This module will examine the dynamics of tourism experiences, and equip students with relevant skills to design and critique design and management initiatives for visitors from multiple cultural contexts.
MN-2510 Consumer Behaviour

The module is designed to provide an introduction to consumer behaviour within the marketing context. We will look at the critical driving forces which influence consumer behaviour, including memory, attitude, decision making, satisfaction, loyalty and new technologies.
MN-M054 Marketing Tourism Experiences

This module considers the challenges of marketing tourism experiences and the benefits to be gained from developing and implementing well-informed and well-designed marketing strategies. Marketing plays a key role in any organisation that measures it success through identification of the specific needs of its target audience(s) and to guide the design and delivery of products to meet those needs. In the tourism context, it is increasingly being recognised that these products are not only service-based but also highly multi-part, complex and co-created, involving the delivery of experiences to a wide audience within the context of multi-stakeholder tourist destinations. This implies the need to engage in effective relationship marketing, with both guests and hosts. Meanwhile strong brands are typically needed to gain the attention and loyalty of an increasingly well-informed, sophisticated and fickle tourist customer base. The international dimension is also increasingly important in marketing tourism experiences and marketing strategies need to incorporate multi-cultural understandings.
MN-M593 Digital Tourism

Digital tourism can be defined as the design, implementation and application of information technology solutions and e-commerce in the field of tourism. It includes the analysis of the processes involved (such as `peer-to-peer¿ sharing), the implications for market structure, conduct and performance, customer relationship management and other business elements that can be transformed by digital technology. Digital or `smart¿ technology is also used in the delivery of destination experiences and the use of digital assistive technologies for tourists with disabilities.

Key Grants and Projects

Tourism’s role in protecting and restoring natural capital in Amazonian Peru 2018 - 2019

, 5000
Santander, What demotivates Chinese Students attending UK Universities: The role of perceived leisure constraints 2016

, £5000
Erasmus Mundus, Smart Tourism Destinations 2016

Career History

Senior Academic, Bournemouth University, UK

September 2015 - 2020
Assistant Professor, Institute for Tourism Studies

August 2013 - July 2014
Assistant Professor, Dongbei University of Finance & Economics, Surrey International Institute

August 2011 - August 2013
Part Time Hourly Lecturer, School of Sport and Service Management, University of Brighton

October 2005 - May 2011

Other Roles

Marketing Executive, Wicklow County Tourism ltd, Ireland

1999 - 2003
Marketing Assistant, Gulliver InfoRes Services ltd, Ireland (FEXCO)

1997 - 1999

Education

PhD, University of Brighton, United Kingdom

January 2005 - January 2010
MBS, University of Limerick, Ireland

August 1995 - July 1997
Graduate Diploma in Tourism Studies, University of Limerick, Ireland

1994 - August 1995