Kevin Millington and Alison Burgh head up Acorn Tourism.
Kevin set up Acorn in 1999 when he was working across the Middle East and tracking tourism trends for the UNWTO’s Tourism Vision 2020. Three years later Alison joined him, bringing her research, international events and promotions experience. She started to build the business in the UK while Kevin was working in Saudi Arabia and together, they established the limited company in 2002.
Since then, they’ve worked on all of Acorn’s 320+ projects and advise clients across the UK and worldwide, supported by a vibrant and committed team and a vast network of specialist experts.
Our team is dedicated to ensuring the successful and timely delivery of our projects. We are always here to assist you, regardless of who you usually liaise with, or if you simply want to learn more about our team.
Below is a summary of Kevin and Alison’s experience. We can explain far more about how we can share our expertise with you, so do call or email us at any time!
Kevin Millington is a tourism development advisor with a strong reputation for creating tourism solutions for public and private sector organisations based on a well-researched statistical foundation. He is internationally known for developing tourism statistics systems and measuring tourism's economic impact. He has worked with many organisations, including the United Nations World Tourism Organisation and World Bank, developing tourism satellite accounts, measuring the economic impact of tourism and assisting local teams to build their market research base and measure the tourism sector following UNWTO international concepts, classifications and definitions.
Over the last 10 years, he has continued to pioneer ways to measure and track the tourism sector, as well as specialising in developing and implementing marketing strategies and branding. He has created successful digital marketing plans for destinations as diverse as Lesotho and the Falkland Islands. Building on his experience undertaking wide-ranging tourism market research, he has also developed significant expertise in strategic planning and product development, leading projects in Africa, the Middle East and the Americas for agencies such as the International Finance Corporation, African Development Bank, and USAID.
Alison Burgh’s passion for sustainable tourism began when she researched the impacts of tourism on women in Kenya’s coastal communities for her university dissertation. Since then, she’s worked in the tourism and hospitality sector, honed her consumer research skills with the Consumers’ Associations in London, Hong Kong, Penang and Sydney, and produced multi-million-dollar international music events, including putting Nelson Mandela on stage at Wembley Stadium in 1990. By 2002, she was ready to settle in the Sussex countryside, learn to row and use the breadth of her experience to build Acorn Tourism.
Working with destination managers, entrepreneurs and funding agencies, Alison shares her market insights and engagement skills to develop community and audience-led strategies and create visitor experiences that build destination brands and marketing content. She has helped emerging countries such as Guyana become award-winning sustainable destinations. As a tourism expert with the CBI for 10 years, she provides SMEs in developing countries with niche market insights to help them diversify their tourism offer. Her work with protected landscapes, country and urban parks looks at how tourism can deliver environmental and community benefits as well as financial sustainability.
In 2021, Alison took on the role of Sustainability Lead for the Tourism Management Institute with the intention of supporting the sustainable development of the UK tourism industry. So far, she has developed a sustainability working group, published sustainability policy documents, launched an extensive sustainability resource library, and organised several popular online discussion events for members to share best practices in the industry.
As a Director of T-Stats, Blogilicious.com, UK representative for Green Destinations and Associate Director of thinkingplace, Alison keeps her finger on the pulse of destination tracking, placemaking, sustainable development influencer and content marketing. She is an experienced team leader and a great believer in bringing together innovative teams with diverse skills to ensure her clients benefit from a wealth of shared experience