Associates

Dr Roger Carter MBE, BSc, PhD, FTS, MTMI

Since establishing TEAM in 1997, Roger Carter has undertaken more than 200 consultancy projects, covering nearly all aspects of destination management and marketing, including tourism strategy and business planning, planning and implementing e-business, visitor services re-engineering and conference development. This has included work for international clients, such as the World Tourism Organization, the European Travel Commission, and for governments, development agencies, destination organisations, local authorities and private companies in many parts of the world, including Canada, Caribbean, China, Australia, South Africa, Namibia, Seychelles, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Turkey, many European countries and all countries of the UK. In recent years he has also been Expert Advisor to the Tourism Inquiry of the Scottish Parliament and a member of the advisory panel for the British Tourism Framework Review.

He has provided consultancy services throughout the UK and in many other countries, including Ireland, Portugal, Belgium, Estonia, Montserrat (Caribbean), Oman, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Seychelles, South Africa, Australia, Canada and China. As MD of TEAM Tourism Consulting, he has directed or overseen more than 250 projects in 20 different countries.

Major recent projects include:

• Tourism strategies for England, Edinburgh, Thompson Okanagan region (British Columbia) and NE Anatolia (Turkey)
• A development, management and marketing plan for the Daming Palace Heritage Park in Xi'an, China
• A visitor information strategy for Northern Ireland
• A programme of strategic, business and operational planning for Cape Town Tourism.

Prior to establishing TEAM, Roger was involved in tourism destination management for nearly 30 years, including 15 years at CEO level, running two of the most successful Tourist Boards in Britain.

In 1990, Roger was appointed to set up and run the Edinburgh Tourist Board. As Chief Executive, he was responsible for the strategic development of the organisation, for business planning and for overseeing all aspects of the Board's operations, including the Edinburgh Convention Bureau, leisure tourism marketing, visitor services and research.

Before that, Roger was Director (CEO) of the Heart of England Tourist Board. Under his direction, the Board developed a reputation for successful innovation in many aspects of tourism marketing and planning. Roger started his career in destinations as Director of Research and Planning at the Scottish Tourist Board, where he designed and managed a highly innovative programme of tourism research and planning studies, many undertaken in co-operation with other agencies.

Together with TEAM Associates, Roger has co-authored various World Tourism Organisation publications, including:

• Handbook on e-Marketing for Tourism Destinations (UNWTO and ETC, 2008)
• A Practical Guide to Tourism Destination Management (2007)
• E-Business for Tourism - Practical Guidelines for Tourism Destinations and Businesses (2001)
• Marketing Tourism Destinations Online (1999)

Roger's special interest in the use of information technology by tourism organisations originated in the mid-1980s. He initiated a strategic approach to the use of IT in England and subsequently in Scotland. From 1994-96, he chaired the Common Interest Groups of two major European IT Projects. In addition, he chaired the IT Working Group of the Federation of European Cities' Tourist Offices (now European Cities Marketing. In 1998/99, he was a partner in the KNITE consortium, which assisted the European Commission in determining its policy towards IT in tourism. For four years, he was a Vice-President of the International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism.

Roger has a BSc in Geography from the University of Birmingham and a PhD from the University of Strathclyde.

Key areas of expertise

Tourism strategy and destination development planning; Restructuring and Re-engineering of Tourism Organisations; e-Business, including e-marketing; Business planning, including marketing planning; Conference marketing and development; Visitor services re-engineering/ commercialisation; Research design + research management and delivery.