Our Team

Including associate consultants and in-house staff, Dunira’s team consists of market researchers and analysts, linguists, economists and ecologists. Although our in-house experience and capabilities are considerable, we are happy to enlist the help and expertise of outside companies, agencies and organisations to assemble augmented specialist teams for specific projects. For research, we draw on the resources of international experts and their partners. For communications, in print and online, we employ professional copywriters with experience in travel and tourism. And for deeper understanding of tourism issues worldwide, we have a network of local advisers on six continents.

Benjamin Carey FTS

Managing director Benjamin Carey established Dunira Strategy in 2002 after a successful career in tourism management. His principle skills lie in business analysis, process re-engineering and project management, with particular emphasis on revenue management, marketing strategy and sustainability.

Benjamin graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an MA (Hons) in Philosophy, and took postgraduate courses in development economics and public policy in London, while building a career in the tourism industry. He held management and consultancy roles with Airtours and Thomson, two of the world's leading tour operators, for whom he developed revolutionary revenue management systems and was responsible for the management of strategic projects and programme management and product development in most of Europe.

He has significant experience working with NGOs and the public sector, and was the founder of Edinburgh Global Partnerships, a charity working for community development and international education. As a former trustee of the research and advocacy organisation Tourism Concern, he has a particular interest in the sustainable management and economic integration of tourism development.

Benjamin is a visiting professor at the Centre for Economic Development and International Finance (DEFI) at the University of the Mediterranean, visiting fellow in the International Centre for Responsible Tourism at Leeds Metropolitan University and a visiting lecturer at Queen Margaret University and the School of Marketing and Tourism at Napier University Business School. He has presented conference papers and published articles on subjects ranging from the development of civil society in Central Asia to the marketing of Mediterranean tourism. He has written for a range of tourism-related journals and magazines, including In Focus, Tourism, TTG MENA and eTurboNews.

Chairman of Tourism Society Scotland and vice chair of The Tourism Society, he is also an active member of Slow Food. His public appointments include membership of the UNESCO Scotland Committee and the World Tourism Organization’s Panel of Experts (UNWTO) .

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Christopher Imbsen

Programme director Christopher Imbsen has been with Dunira since 2007, during which time he has worked in destinations ranging from rural Scotland to the Hindu Kush in Pakistan. His work for private and public sector clients and international organisations often involves implementing sensitive projects in marginal destinations. He has devised training programmes on tourism and community development and advised government agencies and tourist boards on HR and product development, marketing strategy and communication policy. He has produced key performance indicators and mapped tourism assets and capacity at local, regional and national levels.

Christopher graduated first in his MSc Ecotourism course at Edinburgh Napier University and has several years international experience of tourism enterprise development and operations in Asia, the Caribbean and Australia. Prior to entering the tourism industry, he used his BSc (Hons) in International Business to work for a number of years as an accountant and tax analyst.

In addition to considerable language skills, which include fluent English, French and Norwegian, Christopher has particular expertise in portfolio and project management, international coordination of work output and business planning.

Christopher is a keen diver and is a PADI Divemaster and member of Project PADI AWARE.

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John Henderson Todd

Senior consultant John Todd has been working as an associate of Dunira for several years, having entered the consultancy world as a managing consultant for Pannel Kerr Forster (PKF) in 1987 before establishing his own practice in 1989 after several years as Head of Tourism Development for the Scottish Development Agency. His principle skills lie in strategic and business planning in the tourism sector with a special interest in ecotourism, community enterprise and project funding.

John graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a BSc in Physical Chemistry and a postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration before qualifying with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.  His early career was in corporate planning in the telecommunications industry before a spell as a chief officer in Scottish local government.

He has long experience working with NGOs and the public sector in Scotland, the UK, Eastern Europe and Africa and is a member of the Forestry Commission’s South of Scotland Forestry Forum. He has also served as a community councillor and vice chair of an EU funded Community Development Programme in the West Highlands and is a director of a community owned waste management plant in the Scottish Borders. His current and previous clients include Scottish and Highland Enterprise, local authorities throughout the UK, the World Bank, UNDP, European Commission and the Governments of Bulgaria, Poland, Botswana, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

He has made occasional forays into the academic sector as a visiting lecturer in “Corporate Planning in the Public Sector” at Texas A&M University’s Graduate Business School and has published papers on Scottish Place Names and the poetry of Duncan Ban Macintyre.

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Partners and affiliations

Dunira is a founding member of The Travel Foundation and an appointed member of the UK Government’s Consular Stakeholder Panel, which advises the Foreign Office on Travel Advice. Other relevant memberships include Partners for Environmental Co-operation in Europe and the Scottish Parliament’s International Development Group.

The company is also a member of PKF’s Growing Business Forum and the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce.

Clients and partners in Scotland include: 125 Memorial Association, The Borders Foundation for Rural Sustainability, Highland Perthshire, Historic Scotland, Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Natural Heritage, Southern Uplands Partnership, VisitScotland, The Whithorn Trust.

International clients include ministries and government agencies in Armenia, Bhutan, India, Iran, Iraq, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, Scotland, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, UK and Yemen, as well as a number of international agencies: UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, World Bank, World Tourism Organization.

Others include: British Council, DTZ Pieda Consulting, Environment Business & Development Group, Hibiscus Consulting, International Business Leaders Forum, International Centre for Responsible Tourism, International Co-operative Alliance, Mercy Corps, NFO System Three, responsibletravel.com, SNV, Tourism Concern, The Travel Foundation, UK Trade & Investment, Waterbomb, Write Angles, WWF.

Corporate information

Dunira Strategy is a trading name of Dunira Limited, incorporated in Scotland, Company Number SC229031 and registered at 33 West Preston Street, Edinburgh EH8 9PY , UK.

Human Resources

We are always interested in talking to individuals with an interest and relevant experience in tourism marketing and sustainable development. Specific language and IT skills are sometimes required for particular projects.

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Accounts Department

Dunira's VAT Number is 790 0173 44

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