Professor Scott McCabe

Department of Marketing
Professor of Marketing
Head of Department of Marketing

Contact details

Email: s.mccabe@bham.ac.uk
Twitter: @ScottMcCabe13

Address: University House
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Scott McCabe is Chair in Marketing at Birmingham Business School. He received his PhD from the University of Derby in 2001, which focused on how visitors to the Peak District National Park constructed their motivations and behaviours through accounts of their experiences.

He has become an internationally renowned scholar in tourism studies through his subsequent research career. His main interests are in the effects of supported holiday opportunities for bottom of the pyramid consumers. His research conducted with a range of UK charities on the needs for and wellbeing outcomes of a simple break away from home for severely disadvantaged families was submitted as an impact case for the REF 2014. He is also interested in emotions in consumer experiences, responsible and ethical tourism, the role of marketing in promoting greater sustainability in the travel and tourism industry and in socio-linguistics as a methodology.

He is currently the co-editor in Chief of the Annals of Tourism Research and serves on the editorial board of Tourism Management.

Orcid

Google Scholar

Qualifications

PhD 2001

MA Leisure and Tourism Studies, 1993 University of North London

HND Leisure Studies, 1991 University of Salford

Doctoral research

PhD title: Worlds of Reason: the praxis of accounting for ‘day visitor’ behaviour in the Peak National Park. A qualitative investigation.

Other activities

VP for the International Sociological Association, Research Committee 50 on International Tourism (ends July 2023)

Co-Chair of the Academy of Marketing SIG on Tourism Marketing (From March 2023 +)

Elected fellow of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism (2019+)

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Li, L, McCabe, S, Burnett, M & Li, C 2026, 'Curating memories of a future past: Anticipated nostalgia, prospective memory and travel decisions', Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 116, 104098. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2025.104098

Jiang, F, Zhang, CX & McCabe, S 2026, 'Tourists' regret as moral emotional experience', Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 116, 104106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2025.104106

Zhang, CX, Fong, L & McCabe, S 2025, 'Intergroup Identity Conflict in Tourism: The Voice of the Tourist', Journal of Travel Research, vol. 64, no. 2, pp. 322-336. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875231217898

Jafari, J & McCabe, S 2024, 'Emergence: Annals and the evolving research and publishing landscape in tourism', Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 104, 103720. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2023.103720

Li, C, Ji, M, McCabe, S & Bi, J-W 2024, 'Fantasy curiosity: a new theoretical perspective to understand anime pilgrimage', Current Issues in Tourism, vol. 27, no. 24, pp. 4542-4560. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2023.2277907

Fernández-Morales, A, McCabe, S & Cisneros-Martínez, JD 2024, 'Is Social Tourism a Vector for Destination Resilience to External Shocks? Evidence From Spain', Journal of Travel Research, vol. 63, no. 7, pp. 1606-1625. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875231200493

Czernek-Marszałek, K & McCabe, S 2024, 'Sampling in qualitative interview research: criteria, considerations and guidelines for success', Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 104, 103711. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2023.103711

McCabe, S 2024, 'Theory in tourism', Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 104, 103721. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2023.103721

Cisneros-Martínez, JD, McCabe, S & Fernández-Morales, A 2023, 'Assessing the contribution of different markets in combatting destination seasonality: The case of Benidorm, Spain', Journal of Destination Marketing and Management, vol. 29, 100802. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2023.100802

Melis, G, McCabe, S, Atzeni, M & Del Chiappa, G 2023, 'Collaboration and Learning Processes in Value Co-Creation: A Destination Perspective', Journal of Travel Research, vol. 62, no. 3, pp. 699–716. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875211070349

Bianchi, RV, McCabe, S, Cisneros-Martínez, JD & Andrés Domínguez-Gómez, J 2023, 'Contested discourses in social tourism: A relational political economy perspective', Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 102, 103640. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2023.103640

Jiang, Q & McCabe, S 2023, 'Exploring fundamental motives of tourists visiting dark tourism sites', Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 610-624. https://doi.org/10.1080/10941665.2023.2255313

Chapter

Vento, E, McCabe, S & Komppula, R 2024, Wellbeing outcomes of social tourism: Evidence from Finland. in H Konu & MK Smith (eds), A Research Agenda for Tourism and Wellbeing. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., pp. 179-196. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781803924342.00020

Malone, S & McCabe, S 2023, Emotion, action and tourists' ethically motivated self-identity enactment behaviours. in M Carrigan, V Wells & K Papadas (eds), Research Handbook on Ethical Consumption: Contemporary Research in Responsible and Sustainable Consumer Behaviour. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., pp. 33-50. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802202021.00008

Comment/debate

Onder, I & McCabe, S 2025, 'How AI hallucinations threaten research integrity in tourism', Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 111, 103900. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2025.103900

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