Speakers

Tom has over 30 years experience in tourism marketing, branding, development and place-shaping on four continents (UK/Europe, North America & Caribbean, Asia, Africa & Middle East). Prior to establishing Yellow Railroad Tom spent 4 years as Chief Executive of the Scottish Tourist Board (STB, now Visit Scotland). Before that, he was International Marketing Director at STB and ran British Tourist Authority (now Visit Britain) operations in Southeast Asia, Norway and California. 

 

He has undertaken consultancy work in the UK, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Caribbean, focusing on destination branding and marketing (Namibia, Cameroon, Kenya, Mozambique, Gabon, Rwanda, Jordan, Tunisia, Bosnia, Norway, England, France), destination planning, place-shaping, tourism policy, eco/community-based tourism, and organisational restructuring (Dominica, Barbados, Eastern Caribbean States, Lithuania, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Commonwealth Games), and crisis recovery (Britain after 9/11, England after Foot & Mouth Disease). 

 

He authored the definitive Handbook on Tourism Destination Branding, which was published in 2009 by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and European Travel Commission (ETC).

 

Tom has served on several boards as a non-executive director in the fields of tourism, branding, marketing, culture and the natural environment, including: the Edinburgh International Festival Council, the Cairngorm Partnership (Scotland’s second national park) and Scotland the Brand. He was an adviser to the UK Department of Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) on the European Capital of Culture 2008 award, and is a former member of Contact Singapore’s European Panel (formerly the guardian and promoter of Singapore’s international image). 

 

Tom started his tourism career as a tour guide in Europe, after obtaining a degree in Law and Sociology followed by an MA in Criminology. He is currently a non-executive member of the Scottish Prison Service Risk Monitoring and Audit Committee. 

 

He is a regular speaker at universities, business schools, and conferences in the UK and Europe on global travel trends, place branding, and destination marketing. He also writes for academic textbooks and business publications on these subjects and is a Fellow of the UK Tourism Society. His passions are:  windsurfing, scuba-diving, and hill walking, and a desire to see countries pursue economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable tourism. His motto: “Life is not a dress-rehearsal”.