Skills and experience
Deployment of technology solutions
Throughout my career, my roles have focused on how technology can be deployed to bring benefits to the travel and tourism industry. Some of the initiatives I have worked on include the first online booking service for visitbritain.com in 1999, an extranet (with integrated log ons from existing systems) for the network of tourist information centres in England, and the deployment of a white label version of VisitBritain's product search to destination management organisations' consumer websites.
Conference speaking, conference chairing, workshop facilitation, event management
I have been speaking at conferences and events in the United Kingdom and across Europe for over 10 years. Recently, I have spoken at the 10th International Conference on Information Management, Gdansk, Poland, at the World Travel Market, London, United Kingdom, and at ENTER 2012, Helsingborg, Sweden. I also have experience as a confernce chair, for which I have a confident and professional, yet relaxed friendly style - I was once compared to a TV talk show host! I am a skilled facilitator of workshops and discussion panels. I have also been extensively involved in the management of events, from the soucing of venue, speakers, sponsors and suppliers, to the development of compelling programmes and associated social activities.
Accessible tourism
From 2005-2008, I led VisitBritain's input into a three year European Commission-funded project to improve the provision of information of the accessibility of tourism products (e.g. places to stay, visitor attractions, etc.). The project - OSSATE - One-Stop-Shop for Accessible Tourism in Europe - had 10 partners in total, across 7 countries. The outcome of the work was that accessibility content became part of the mainstream product information shown on visitbritain.com, enjoyengland.com, visitwales.com and a host of other leading tourism websites. I also led VisitBritain to be one of the founding members of the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT). During the time spent on these initiatives, I worked extensively with groups, organisations and individuals respresenting people with disabilities, and have been fortunate to acquire knowledge and experience about this rapidly growing, significantly important, but, unfortunately, often overlooked sector.
Partner management
During my 14 years with VisitBritain, I worked extensively with a broad variety of the organisation's partners, including strategic partners (the UK national tourist boards), regional and area tourism organisations, destination management organisations, travel trade and technical partners. In the late 1990s, I created and managed the Tourism Technology Working Group, which comprised representatives from across the UK industry who shared their knowledge, expertise and best practice of deploying technologies. I also managed an operations group, which acted as a project board for the National Tourism Open Platform, and comprised representatives of the English regional tourism delivery partners, national tourist boards and technical partners.