Heather Hardwick
Vice President

Heather Hardwick has a strong background in market analysis and has assisted destinations, tour operators, and other travel providers with a wide range of projects involving strategic planning, market assessment, branding and positioning, and product development. Recent MCG assignments have included strategic planning work for the State of Yucatan, Mexico, South African Tourism, and the European Travel Commission.

Heather has particularly strong expertise in the educational or affinity travel segment, the special interest travel market, and the international meetings, conventions, and incentives market. She has conducted extensive research in these areas, and authored studies that described and quantified these lucrative segments.

Heather possesses a thorough understanding of American pleasure travelers' attitudes, perceptions, and motivations, and is particularly adept at applying her knowledge to in-depth interviewing and focus group moderating. She is an accomplished moderator and has directed numerous projects involving in-depth interviews with consumers and the travel trade.

Heather is a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences and has made presentations on five continents in recent years. Topics have included: the importance of research in building a travel brand, developing and marketing products for family travelers, and opportunities for developing tourism in rural areas. Heather holds a B.A. from Stanford University and serves on the California Travel Industry Association (CalTIA) Research Advisory Committee.