Destination management consultant. Managing Principal, Oldford Global Consulting. Former CMO, CSO, and Acting CEO, PROMTUR Panama.
Woodrow Oldford is a destination management consultant and the Managing Principal of Oldford Global Consulting, specializing in DMO formation, destination strategy, national tourism brand development, and economic impact attribution. He served as Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, and Acting CEO of PROMTUR Panama from 2020 to 2023.
Oldford has spent more than 20 years building destination institutions, national tourism brands, and measurement frameworks that connect promotional investment to economic impact. His work spans Canada, Central America, and the Middle East, across national DMOs, destination development organizations, and government-aligned tourism authorities.
At PROMTUR Panama, he built the organization from the ground up: governance structure, board accountability framework, four-year organizational strategy, and full operating model. He developed Panama's first unified national destination brand and deployed a seven-source business intelligence stack to measure and attribute economic outcomes against national targets. The organization achieved all three of its four-year strategic targets ahead of schedule: brand rank, economic impact, and industry satisfaction.
Prior to Panama, he served as VP Global Marketing at Banff and Lake Louise Tourism, where he resolved conflicting mandates across Parks Canada, the Town of Banff, and three ski resorts to build a unified global demand strategy. He identified off-season dispersal as the primary growth lever and grew year-round destination occupancy from 65% to 78%.
Earlier in his career, he led digital marketing and creative operations at WestJet during a period of rapid airline growth in Canada, building and managing the internal creative agency with final brand authority across aircraft livery, uniforms, airport environments, web, print, and social.
Oldford's consulting work focuses on mandates where the outcome is an institution, a measurement system, or a strategy framework. He advises governments, ministries, DMOs, and destination development organizations on the decisions that determine whether tourism generates lasting impact socially, environmentally, and economically.
Organizational design, board accountability frameworks, enabling legislation, transition planning, and operating models for national and regional destination authorities.
Long-horizon destination development planning aligned with community, environmental, and economic objectives. National tourism master plan development and implementation.
Full brand architecture from DNA to deployment: brand promise, essence, positioning, platform, psychographic segmentation, visual identity, and multi-channel execution.
Multi-source attribution models connecting promotional investment to national economic outcomes. Business intelligence infrastructure, multiplier methodology, and public reporting frameworks.
Governance models that embed social, environmental, and economic accountability into destination management. Regenerative tourism frameworks and community benefit structures.
Program-based marketing models that build lasting destination consideration across the full traveler journey rather than burst-and-blackout campaign cycles.
| 2023 – Present |
Managing Principal
Oldford Global Consulting
Panama City – MENA – International
|
| 2020 – 2023 |
Chief Marketing Officer & Chief Strategy Officer | Acting CEO
PROMTUR Panama
Panama City, Panama
|
| 2016 – 2020 |
VP, Global Marketing
Banff & Lake Louise Tourism
Banff, Alberta, Canada
|
| 2010 – 2016 |
Director, Creative Services & Digital Operations
WestJet
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
|
Work with us
Oldford Global works with governments, ministries, DMOs, and destination development organizations on the mandates that determine whether tourism generates lasting social, environmental, and economic impact.
Get in touch