Blue Chip Tourism

Associates

Richard Smith - Director, RJS Associates

Richard has over 25 years of destination tourism experience. He has worked for nearly twenty years as a consultant (both independently and as a senior associate with TEAM Tourism Consulting).

He specialises in destination strategy development and action planning, market analysis and segmentation, destination analytics and scenario modelling. He has worked for a range of clients internationally and in the UK at all levels - nationally, regionally, for cities and locally.

As a consultant, he has undertaken over 100 pieces of market research - both consumer and business - including market testing products and brands.

Matt Bell - Director, Revolver Retail

The former Business and Customer Service Director of Liverpool ONE and a key part of its success, Matt has now set up Revolver Retail to deliver innovative solutions for retailers and property owners alike. Matt is up to speed with the fast moving world of retail and brings outstanding commercial expertise to Blue Chip's team.

Rachael Bampton-Smith - Director, Bampton Smith Marketing Consultancy

Rachael Bampton-Smith is a destination, conference and events marketing specialist, who has worked all over the UK and overseas. Her clients have ranged from Milligan working with Mare Magnum in Barcelona and Triangle in Manchester, to Arena and Convention Centre Liverpool, the Albert Dock, Aintree Racecourse, The Beatles Story, The Needles and Wicksteed Park.

She has worked to deliver destination marketing with places from Liverpool to Land's End including Chester, York, the East of England and Stoke.

Rachael's no nonsense approach to marketing ensures that activities generating best return on investment are deployed in the first instance so that the right audience are targeted with the right tactics to generate engagement and income. Rachael is a CIM and NLP qualified individual. She is also a European Foundation of Quality Management trained business assessor and coach.

Kirsty Connell Freelance Project Manager Culture, Leisure and Tourism

Kirsty and Keith have worked together extensively - she was the cultural lead on Leicester's UK City of Culture Bid, and provided the cultural input into the Worcestershire study as well as leading on the UNESCO bid.

Kirsty has more than fifteen years' experience of working on public/private sector initiatives involving multiple stakeholders. She is currently working with the ten local authorities of Greater Manchester on the strategic development of their broader arts development offer.

Kirsty has an academic background in the arts and has an MA in Art History and Curating from Liverpool Hope University.

David Selby - Owner, Travelyields Consulting LTD.

David has been in the business of tour operating and cruising for more than 25 years.

As a tour operator, he planned holiday programmes and became an expert on tourism in on Greece, Turkey, Croatia, and Spain, for various well known travel brand names.

He then led the growth of the Thomson Cruises to become one of the UK's largest cruise lines through both acquisition/disposal, effective marketing and the achievement of a high level of product and service consistency that customers value.

He left parent company TUI to set up Travelyields in late 2011 to help travel related organisations of all sizes enhance commercial performance, and now has an extensive list of UK and international clients ranging from global brand names to SMEs. He is also a Fellow Of The Institute Of Travel and Tourism. David's cruise industry experience and Blue Chip's port expertise make an ideal combination.

Creative - Branding, Design & Implementation

Blue Chip Tourism has strong working relationships with a number of award-winning design agencies and can bring a 'full service' package together including brand development, design, web, e-communications and production.