Dr Pau Obrador Pons

Assistant Professor

School: Newcastle Business School

I am an Assistant Professor of Tourism and Events Management at Newcastle Business School. Before joining Northumbria University in 2015, I held lecturing positions at the University of Exeter from 2004 to 2006 and at the University of Sunderland from 2007 to 2015. I have a BA in Sociology from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1998) and a PhD in Human Geography from Durham University (2004). I am originally from the island of Menorca.

I am a tourism scholar working at the intersection of place, culture, tourism and, increasingly, the digital realm. The primary focus of my work revolves around the place of tourism in contemporary everyday life, which I analyse through post-structuralist lenses, particularly concerning embodiment, sensuality, and performativity. My most impactful contributions are in dwelling-in-mobilities and embodiment. I also have original publications exploring family tourism, the haptic sensualities of the beach, nudity, tourist arts, mass tourism, campervan dwellings, invented traditions, festival crowds and critical hospitalities.

At present, I am focused on expanding my work on dwelling-in-mobilities into the digital realm. This work is supported by a BA/Leverhulme small research grant, which investigates the digital mediation of home through short-term rental platforms. I am particularly interested in tourist platforms as contexts for homemaking (and unmaking) that affect the material and imaginary geographies of homes as well as the relationships, intimacies, and identities they encompass.

My post-disciplinary research background supports a wide-ranging academic practice in teaching and learning. At Northumbria, I have made strategic contributions to research-enriched education through my leadership in programme design, undergraduate dissertation, and research-informed teaching in tourism and events. Much of my teaching centres on the connection between tourism, events, and society, particularly in the Level 5 module I convene.

I am a senior fellow of HEA and a member of the editorial board of Tourist Studies, the Menorcan Research Institute and the Critical Tourism Studies network. I regularly conduct expert analysis in international media of tourism issues and realities, mainly in the context of the Balearic Islands

My personal interests include running, literature, cinema, theatre, CrossFit, travelling and, of course, a trip to the beach.

Campus Address

Room 212, City Campus East,

Email Pau

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

I am a tourism scholar working at the intersection of place, culture, tourism and, increasingly, the digital realm. The primary focus of my work revolves around the place of tourism in contemporary everyday life, which I analyse through post-structuralist lenses, particularly concerning embodiment, sensuality, and performativity. My research encompasses a diverse array of issues within tourism and events, often adopting a post-disciplinary approach. Additionally, my work highlights the significance of concepts and skills from the humanities and social sciences for tourism policy and management.

My most impactful publications focus on dwelling, familiarity, and the everyday within tourism. My most cited article is on dwelling-in-mobilities and was published in Tourist Studies in 2003. I have also published on the familiar character of tourism in Annals of Tourism Research (2012). My latest research with Sharon Wilson (2022) is on caravan dwellings and has been published in Mobilities. The article extends philosophical debates on dwelling-in-mobilities for analysing mobile tourist homes, mobilising and socialising dwelling.

Another critical concern in my work is the theorisation of embodiment, sensuality and performativity on the beach. Much of my research examines the haptic articulations of the sensible. Notably, my studies on beaches have been recognised as pioneering in investigating the significance of touch in tourism. My publications about the beach include topics like nudity in Social and Cultural Geography (2007), sandcastles in Senses and Society (2009), and the intersections of Sea, Sun, and Sand in Touching Space, Placing Touch (2012). Recently, I co-authored a critical review for Tourist Studies with Hazel Tucker and Phoebe Everingham, which outlines the evolving narratives of embodiment in tourism (2001 and 2024). Currently, I am collaborating with Jihane Ademi on the sensualities of ladies-only beach resorts in Lebanon.

A significant portion of my research focuses on island and coastal tourism. I have a sustained interest in mass tourism and its impact on Mediterranean modernities. In 2009, I co-edited a book on Cultures of Mass Tourism with Mike Crang Penny Travlou, which seeks to demonstrate the cultural significance of mass tourism as well as its importance to mass culture. Additionally, I published a brief paper in 2017 on sustainable tourism policies for the Balearic Islands, and I have conducted an expert analysis of tourism issues, particularly regarding the Balearic Islands. This includes articles on tourism and culture for Núvol (2022), a leading cultural magazine in Catalan.

A recent area of interest focuses on the role of festivals in cultural transformations. This interest stems from my work on a funded research project on invented traditions in rural Mallorca, conducted in collaboration with Antoni Vives, Marcel Pich and Francesc Alemany. We have published articles on the decolonisation of tourist local identities in Mallorca in Tourist Studies (2020), the renewal of festival traditions for a book on Festival Cultures (2022), and more recently on crowding and co-creation (2024). Additionally, I co-authored a brief paper on Tactical Tourism with Sean Carter in Cultural Geographies (2010) and a book chapter on the Nomadic Village project with Sharon Wilson (2014).

I have also engaged with critical hospitalities, developing a pedagogical innovation inspired by freegan principles. In 2020, I published an article in Hospitality & Society (2020) about a student-led pop-up café that upcycles surplus food. This article highlights the pedagogical and practical value of integrating critical hospitalities into vocational curricula. Additionally, I have addressed field trip practices and research-enriched education more broadly.

Currently, I am working on the rise of platform economies in tourism, expanding my work on dwelling-in-mobilities into the digital realm. This work is supported by a BA/Leverhulme small research grant, which investigates the digital mediation of home through short-term rental platforms. This initiative is undertaken in collaboration with Maartje Roelofsen and Dave Loder. I am particularly interested in tourist platforms as contexts for homemaking (and unmaking) that affect the material and imaginary geographies of homes, as well as the relationships, intimacies, and identities they encompass. Additionally, I am collaborating with Wesley Cooke on a paper exploring the unmaking of home through Airbnb.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Crowding as Co-destruction in Festivals: Scale, co-creation and Transformation in La Mucada, Mallorca, Obrador Pons, P., Alemany-Sureda, F., Vives Riera, A. 16 Apr 2025, In: Event Management
Dwelling in campervans: homemaking and mobile neighbouring on the move, Wilson, S., Obrador Pons, P. 2 Jan 2022, In: Mobilities
Festive traditions and tourism in Mallorca: Ludic transgressions and the disruption of otherness, Vives Riera, A., Obrador Pons, P. 1 Mar 2020, In: Tourist Studies
A Freegan Pop-up Café: Embedding critical hospitalities into the curriculum, Obrador Pons, P. 1 Mar 2020, In: Hospitality and Society
Trajectories of embodiment in Tourist Studies, Everingham, P., Obrador Pons, P., Tucker, H. 1 Mar 2021, In: Tourist Studies
The Place of the Family in Tourism Resarch: Domesticity and thick sociality by the pool, Obrador Pons, P. 2012, In: Annals of Tourism Research
The end of sustainability? A note on the changing politics of mass tourism in the Balearic Islands, Obrador Pons, P. 2017, In: Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events
The nomadic village: Communal creativity and political subversion in a temporary settlement, Wilson, S., Obrador, P. 18 Dec 2013, Travel, Tourism and Art, London, Taylor & Francis
Touching the Beach, Obrador, P. 22 Oct 2012, Touching Space, Placing Touch, London, Routledge
Cultures of Mass Tourism: Doing the Mediterranean in the Age of Banal Mobilities, Obrador Pons, P., Crang, M., Travlou, P. Sep 2009

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Invited talk: Anatomy of Tourism: Impacts of Tourist Culture 2025
Invited talk: Doing tourism without leaving home: On the impact of the platform economy on domestic space 2025
Invited talk: A cultural and political geography of the beach 2023
Invited talk: Round table on sustainability in small islands. 2022
Organising a conference, workshop, ...: Critical Tourism Studies Conference 2022
Examination: PhD Examiner - Albert Arias 2022
Invited talk: Habitar turísticament: Cap a una perspectiva domèstica de l'economia Col·laborativa (Tourist Dwelling: Towards a domestic perspective of the sharing economy) 2021
Visiting an external academic institution: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya 2021
Invited talk: Thinking tourism and the covid-19 pandemic through the body 2021
Invited talk: Creating an effective Blended learning curriculum and learning experience 2021