Associates

Dr Paul Ridoutt

Paul is a professionally trained and qualified Management Consultant with over 25 years' professional management consultancy, tourism development and senior executive experience, with a substantial track record in private and public sectors of the tourism, travel, hospitality and leisure industries. Paul's tourism work encompasses Caribbean, South Pacific, Africa, SE Asia, Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. He has experience in managing and advising on a wide range of tourism development projects, from traditional mainstream beach products, to community and sustainable tourism development products in environmentally sensitive areas and protected sites.

Paul has strong experience in tourism development projects as programme / project manager and technical advisor for aid-funded and private sector projects in developing countries working with governments, RTOs and NTOs, community organisations, hotel and travel associations and chambers of commerce and other private sector trade associations. He has worked on projects funded by the African and Asian Development Banks, DFID, ComSec, European Union, JICA and UNDP as well as for private sector organisations.

As programme / project manager he has also been responsible for negotiating with donors and managing grant-funded project finance and administration in line with donor requirements, and for negotiating and sourcing aid funding for future tourism development.

Paul also has a strong commercial private sector tourism experience in Europe, Caribbean and North America working in senior executive roles, and as an owner and shareholder of tour operations and travel agencies, and also as a management and business development consultant to travel, hospitality and tourism corporations.

His most recent assignments include:

• Australia - marketing plan, website and brand development
• Caribbean - tourism development master plan
• Caribbean - tourism technology - regional sustainable tourism development programme
• Caribbean - RTO organisational and policy/strategy review
• Caribbean - implementation of national tourism development strategy plan
• Caribbean - tourism development master plan
• Caribbean - EU private sector investment / partnership tourism development
• USA - private sector tour operator - CEO/business development
• Philippines - sustainable tourism development programme
• Caribbean - private sector resort operator - marketing IT strategy
• Caribbean - development of national tourism development strategy plan
• New Zealand - private sector tourism technology business strategy and product development
• South Pacific - regional tourism development programme project manager.

In additional to professional management consultancy qualifications, Paul has an MA in International Tourism Policy from the London Metropolitan University, UK, and a Doctorate in Tourism Technologies from Middlesex University UK.

Key areas of expertise

Business development, project and programme management, marketing, and product development, tourism research and statistics, tourism strategy and policy formulation, tourism planning and development, travel and tourism technology, management information, operational and institutional strengthening commercial planning and implementation.

Key experience in programme and project management, tourism development, tourism marketing and technologies.