TOURISM RESEARCH & MARKETING TEAM
Get to Know Us
Bill Richards
Senior Partner
Greg Richards
Partner
Bill has more than 30 years experience in all sectors of the UK and international, travel and tourism industries. He has held several senior management posts with the British Tourist Authority (BTA), at various times being responsible for the development of new overseas markets and matching product development, and the promotion of U.K. business travel products for overseas markets.
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Bill has taken an active interest in the structured development of tourism, which he sees as the ultimate result of co-operation and adherence to coherent and long-sighted strategy. His commitment to this vision is marked by his formation of a number of marketing and export consortia and trade associations in the conference, private hotel and management training sectors.
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He was until recently Secretary General of the European Travel & Tourism Action Group (ETAG), which represents the major European and international tourism and transportation organisations. He is on the Advisory Board of the World Travel Market and he has been a PHARE project member identifying investors in tourism projects in Eastern Europe.
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He is the author of internationally distributed text-book "How To Market Tourist Attractions, Festivals and Special Events", a contributing author to "An introduction to Tourism", and the biennial publication "International Theme Park Markets". He has recently published overviews and analyses of the International Exhibition & Conference markets, Global Travel Trade Market Places, and a History of Travel & Tourism in the UK.
Greg has worked in tourism development and marketing consultancy for the last thirty years. A researcher in Tourism Studies, he has conducted research into many aspects of the production, consumption and marketing of tourism, culture and events.
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Greg has supervised and co-ordinated many projects for the European Commission, including a trans-national study of cultural tourism; an assessment of the European Cultural Capital Programme; a study on sustainable tourism in Europe; a project to transfer tourism skills to the countries of Eastern and Central Europe; the development of European Textile Heritage and cultural routes and the application of information technology in small businesses. He has written books on Cultural Tourism, Tourism and Gastronomy, Cultural tourism attractions, Global cultural tourism, Sustainable Tourism Management, and Tourism education. He is an Executive Board member of ATLAS Europe.
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He has worked extensively on the relationship between tourism, culture and creativity. He was a member of the Palmer/Rae team evaluating the impact of the European Cities of Culture for the European Commission, an adviser on the development of national cultural tourism policy in Austria, cultural tourism development in the North of England, and is writing books on the relationship between creativity, tourism and development and the growth of 'eventful cities'. His projects include work on the Hieronymus Bosch 500 celebrations for the Dutch city of Den Bosch and a reports on tourism and the creative economy for the OECD.