PKF hospitality appoints head of tourismexperts division
PKF hospitality group, an internationally recognised leader in hospitality and tourism consulting, has appointed Florian Van der Bellen as the Head of Destination Development for the PKF tourismexperts division.
Florian Van Der Bellen succeeds Christopher Hinteregger, who has joined the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a tourism consultant, where PKF hospitality group is also active.
Van der Bellen studied at the Tourism College in Innsbruck and at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration (WU Wien) and most recently guided his own company in the field of tourism consulting in Austria, Romania and Georgia, among other countries, since 2014.
Additionally, Van der Bellen was active as a director at the Tourism Association Tyrolean Oberland and as a key account manager at TiMedia Tourism Marketing Innsbruck. Prior to his tourism career, Van der Bellen served as hotel manager at various 4- and 5-star hotels in Austria, Germany and Australia.
Michael Widmann, Global CEO of PKF hospitality group, said: "We are very pleased to have Florian Van der Bellen, a proven expert in the field of tourism, on board. Destination development on a national, regional and local level as well as for a variety of tourism destination types is becoming increasingly important. With PKF tourismexperts, we offer a wide range of services for tourism destinations: from comprehensive tourism master plans and tourism development strategies to digitalization and marketing strategies."
In the field of tourism consulting, PKF hospitality group has provided advisory support to the following projects, among others:
• National Tourism Strategy for Slovenia
• Destination development Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
• Destination development Boa Vista, Cape Verde
• Destination development Yenkit, Oman
• Destination development Zablace-Sibenik, Croatia
• Tourism master plan for the city of Timmins, Canada
• Destination development Sallatunturi, Finland
• Development of regional DMOs in Svanetia and Rakha, Georgia
• Long-term strategy for Icelandic tourism, Iceland
• Tourism Recovery Plan, Guam
In addition to tourism development projects and master plans, PKF hospitality group has managed over 1,000 consulting projects in more than 70 countries in the hotel industry. It is also a member of the UNWTO (UN World Tourism Organization). The World Tourism Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations with headquarters in Madrid.
Van der Bellen said: "I am very pleased to be working for PKF hospitality group. I see great potential for synergies in the combination of PKF's global presence and my experience in both the hotel industry and destination development. My goal is to further expand PKF in tourism consulting internationally. I look forward to many exciting projects with our partners." – TradeArabia News Service