Dr Simon Woodward has worked as a tourism and heritage industry consultant and educator since 1988, and brings expertise in:

• strategy development
• policy reviews
• options appraisals
• impact assessments
• business planning
• visitor management
• site masterplanning
• destination development
• feasibility studies
• project evaluation

His first degree was a BA(Hons) in Geography with Economics, which he followed with a Postgraduate Diploma in Recreation and Leisure Practice. Simon's was awarded a PhD in 1990 for his research on recreational use of derelict and vacant land in urban areas.

Between 1988 and 2008 Simon worked for some of the highest profile consultancy companies operating in the tourism and heritage sectors in the UK, including Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte, Frontline Management Consultants, ASH Consulting Group and, for the last 12 years, PLB Consulting Ltd.

In 2008 Simon joined the International Centre for Responsible Tourism at Leeds Metropolitan University as Senior Research Fellow, with responsibility for developing the MSc course in Responsible Tourism Management as well as contributing to the centre’s research and consultancy programmes.

He has an excellent understanding of the environmental, economic and social impacts of tourism (the Triple-bottom line) and of community involvement in sustainable heritage, leisure and tourism projects. 

Dr Woodward has worked throughout the UK and in Southern Africa, Scandinavia, Western Europe, South Asia, the USA, the Middle East and North Africa. 

In addition to his consultancy work, Simon has worked as a contributor to the International Ecotourism Society’s world-renowned ecotourism planning course, to the Architectural Association’s MA Degree in Architecture and Regeneration, to the Rural Archaeology and Tourism Planning Course at Oxford University’s Department of Continuing Education and to the Masters Course in World Heritage Studies at Brandenburg Technical University, Cottbus, Germany.

He is a member of the Tourism Society, the International Ecotourism Society and ICOMOS-UK.

Simon sits on the ICOMOS-UK Cultural Tourism Committee and the Dean's Development Committee at Durham Cathedral. He was recently co-opted onto the Steering Group for the UK Museum of Peace that will be housed in the Senator George Mitchell Centre for Peace and Reconciliation at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Contact Simon by emailing simon@simonwoodward.info or call +44 7855 801 230