TOURISM

In 1995, Olaf became one of the youngest people to pass the exams for the Scottish Tourist Guides Association and spent several summers extolling the virtues of his country to busloads of German pensioners.

He now focuses on corporate incentive tours, press trips, political delegations and individual walking tours. Clients have included members of Germany’s Bundestag, the Bavarian parliament and companies such as Vodafone, VW, IBM and NCR

His experience as a journalist, combined with many contacts in the creative industries, have also led to many assignments from Visit Scotland’s press department. He has worked as a guide and location advisor for a wide range of media including Spain’s El Pais, Conde Naste Traveler and Tele 5, Mexico’s Reforma newspaper and Germany’s ZDF.

In 2010 Olaf was invited by the British music industry organisation, UK Music, to present the potential benefits of music tourism at a press conference unveiling the value of the country’s music business. He was subsequently commissioned to contribute to a report on the subject which was published in May 2011. After hosting several panel discussions on the subject, he hosted the Music Tourist Summit in 2016, the world’s first music tourism conference.

This has developed into a consultancy which has seen him collaborate on research with Newcastle University, as well as organise panels and workshops, most recently in Prague, Milan and Reykjavik.