Travel Industry Practice

Business Brains International April 2022 Travel Industry Practice

We are pleased to announce the establishment of a specific new practice within our consultancy and business advisory services. Our membership includes a number of people with senior executive responsibilities in the global travel and tourism industry. We have in-depth experience and many examples of adding value to the visitor economy and its businesses.

The practice will be led by Keith Beecham. I first met Keith when he was responsible for the VisitBritain (trading name for British Tourist Authority) operations in Japan in the 1990’s. His role was subsequently expanded to include Asia-Pacific, including China and Japan from his base in Hong Kong, before he returned to UK headquarters with the responsibility for marketing Britain and managing VisitBritain’s global network of overseas offices. Latterly, he spent 6 years as CEO of the newly created Visit Jersey agency and is now an independent consultant from his London base.

As part of the wider team, we draw on the experience of Kathryn Bullock, Martin Chillcott, Andrew Clark, Max Grosse, Peter Gunton, Patrick Harper-Smith and Barbara Smith, who all enjoyed management careers with American Express and Thomas Cook, along with myself. In addition, Mark Palmer is Editor of the Daily Mail Travel Supplement.

Our combined experience includes overseas postings in Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Australia, Japan, Philippines, Sweden and Canada and our international representation covers most of Asia, Australia, USA and the Gulf.

Specific areas where we can assist include:

Strategy

·        Strategic vision and business planning both domestically and globally

·        Mergers & Acquisitions

Marketing

·        Destination Marketing and Event Management

·        Market segmentation and differentiation (product-market fitting)

·        Leveraged marketing with partners

·        Publications & PR; on and offline covering web and social media

Operations

·        Database management and IT platforms

·        Foreign Exchange and funds transfer

·        Payment systems

People

·        HR consulting; recruitment, mentoring, training and employee communications