| Developing new tourism businesses
Simon’s core strength is in developing innovative product, strengthening business performance and increasing sustainability. He has delivered this largely through ecotourism and cultural tourism, but is also skilled at greening mainstream tourism.
Simon has been a major player in the development and consolidation of ecotourism across the world. He has developed ecolodges, ecotours and eco-attractions in Australia, the Pacific, South and Central America. He has been a major player in setting the standards for ecotourism, developing ecotourism accreditation programs across the world and publishing widely on ecotourism.
Simon has also coordinated many developments at cultural and historic sites, which can be far more complex than natural sites. This area highlights Simon’s skills in managing difficult approval processes and winning over stakeholders. Demonstrating this has been the conservation and adaptive reuse of several haciendas on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula as 5 start retreat accommodation. Simon’s biggest project has been the transformation of Sydney’s historic Quarantine Station into an 80 room hotel, conference and functions centre, restaurant, immersion theatre and collection of dramatic, interactive tours.
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| Reinvigorating mature businesses
Simon sees and converts social trends into new tourism products that reinvigorate business. In the 1980s he reversed the loss of young agile adventure tourism markets by reinvigorating certain products into a blend of soft adventure and ecotourism. He replaced part of the physical challenge with the stimulation of interacting with host communities and learning more about the natural environment in fun ways. Simon’s work resulted in adventure tourism companies across Central America, South America, the Pacific Islands and China benefit from significant increases in repeat custom and customer loyalty.
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| Tourism and hotel business management
Simon can take the development of a project through its difficult pre-opening, growth and stabilisation phases, until the business is ready for a more mainstream ‘steady as she goes’ manager. His business acumen comes from a combination of high level academic business qualifications and a decade of business consulting and direct operational experience as a general manager for 4 and 5 star properties in Australia and Mexico respectively.
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| Managing tourism in protected areas
Simon is a bridge builder between national park / heritage managers and the tourism industry. He has assisted develop tourism and visitor management policy, plans and systems for every protected area manager across Australia, and in many developing countries across the world. This work has helped government attract the private sector to develop tourism in a responsible manner, and prevented visitors ‘loving a place to death’.
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