Dr Richard Denman, MA PhD MTS

Richard Denman is Director of The Tourism Company, a UK based tourism consultancy. Following a masters degree from Cambridge University and a doctorate from the University of Edinburgh, he worked at a senior level with the tourist boards in England before setting up The Tourism Company on 1990. Richard is a leading international expert on ecotourism and the sustainable development of tourism destinations. He produced WWF’s Guidelines on Community Based Ecotourism. He has worked closely with the UN World Tourism Organization and UNEP, initially as consultant for the World Summit on Ecotourism and subsequently in preparing a number of documents for them on sustainable tourism, including the policy guide Making Tourism More Sustainable. Other areas of work with UNWTO include poverty alleviation through tourism and stakeholder partnership models. Within Europe, he has coordinated the work of the European Union’s Tourism Sustainability Group and helped to set up the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas. He has recently been working as a consultant to the Tourism Sustainability Council, advising on a global accreditation programme for certification schemes.

Richard has worked on national and local projects in over 25 countries, including tourism plans, feasibility studies, product development and policy guidance. He is a former Board Director of The International Ecotourism Society, a member of Europe’s ECOTRANS network.

Contact: rdenman@thetourismcompany.com