Yvonne Wagoun

Associate, Scotland, UK

Experience

Yvonne is a bilingual (German/English) senior tourism manager and business development professional with over 30 years of hands-on experience in the inbound travel market. She spent more than 20 years working as a tour operator before establishing herself as an independent consultant, bringing first-hand insight into how the travel trade works, its processes, and its product requirements.

Her career includes senior roles with leading organisations such as Hotelbeds and Rabbie’s Small Group Tours, where she broadened the company’s product range by introducing exclusive travel trade and innovative holiday experiences — opening up new business opportunities and demonstrating her ability to turn concepts into commercially viable products.

Alongside her consultancy role, Yvonne has worked extensively with DMOs in the UK and abroad, delivering programmes focused on destination building through product development and trade engagement. This includes helping regions and local businesses create trade-ready product, strengthen international visibility, and build long-term partnerships with travel trade buyers.

Core skills and qualifications

Yvonne’s expertise spans travel trade strategy and distribution, product development, international sales, business mentoring and stakeholder engagement. She has led a wide range of industry programmes and training initiatives, including the development of the Travel Trade Fact Sheet in 2020 – a tool designed to help tourism businesses present their unique strengths in line with trade requirements. Since then, the fact sheet has been widely adopted by VisitScotland and other training providers, becoming an industry standard for preparing businesses to engage and work effectively with the travel trade.

She holds a diploma in Communication Studies from the Bavarian Academy of Marketing & Advertising (BAW Munich) and has held a number of industry leadership roles, including Vice Chair of the Scottish Destination Management Association, Team Champion for the Tourism Innovation Group, and member of VisitScotland’s Festivals Focus Group.

Since 2022, Yvonne has also been recognised as one of the Top 100 Women in Tourism, a peer-nominated award which is reviewed and awarded every two years.

Specialisms

With extensive experience in both the public and private sectors, Yvonne has directed project management and research assignments where her practical trade knowledge has shaped strategy, business planning, and marketing. She is recognised for a pragmatic approach that balances saleability with deliverability, enabling businesses to achieve sustainable growth in domestic and international markets.

She works closely with DMOs, supporting destination building through product development and trade engagement, ensuring local businesses and regions are best positioned to succeed in highly competitive markets.

Yvonne also regularly attends national and international networking and sales events, giving her strong connections across established and emerging markets. She works with UK tourism bodies, destination organisations, and international trade partners, ensuring businesses can access opportunities across Europe, North America, and other key growth markets worldwide.