In the Spring of 1991, a three phase project was begun at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in which the overall goal of the project was to design and implement an economic development program which would assist the information dominated service industries located in Western Massachusetts. The research for the first phase of the project was undertaken by Regional Planning M.A. candidate Maureen Moriarty under the guidance of adjunct Professor Robert Hopley, School of Business Administration, and Professor Meir Gross, Department of Regional Planning. This initial step in the research "entailed the creation of a pilot program in which Western Massachusetts service firms will target British firms wishing to enter the American market, including the attraction of tourism for the U.K. as well." In her master's thesis, "Massachusetts Enters the Global Age: A Service Export Initiative," Ms. Moriarty has provided the frame work from which the rest of phase one, specifically the research on tourism, has been based. The objective of this study, which specifically focused on tourism as a means for economic development in Western Massachusetts, was to look specifically at Western Massachusetts tourism packages that have potential for sale in the U.K..