CV

Curriculum Vitae

Education

  • Education in the US: Bachelor of Arts on a Fulbright Scholarship at Tarkio College, Missouri 1965-67.

  • MBA, Magna Cum Laude, University of Miami, Florida 1968-70.

Career

  • Account executive in the international advertising agency (then the world's biggest) Young & Rubicam until 1979: Lived and worked 7 years in New York, Amsterdam, London, Oslo, and ultimately Brussels, where I was responsible for Y&R’s multinational clients (Levi’s, Chiquita etc) as an account director

  • Started my own advertising agency, Communiqué, in Oslo in 1980, which was subsequently acquired by Ogilvy & Mather in 1985. Creative director for O&M until 1987

  • Senior Editor for American Express’ membership magazine in Scandinavia, IMPRESSION ’87-’90, published in 3 languages, editorial focus on culture and travel. Print run 250 000.

  • Consultant for the launch of Norway’s first private cable television channel. Wrote and produced 16 travel programs for this channel and the government channel NRK ‘87-92

  • The book, A JOURNEY THROUGH THE EUROPEAN NIGHT, was published in Norwegian in 1992.

  • Two books, NOVEL PLACES I and II, on famous authors and their relationship to places they chose for their writing (Greene in Saigon, Strindberg in Paris, Blixen in Kenya etc), were published to critical acclaim in 1999 and 2000.

  • The book TWO FACES OF TOURISM: WHERE TO GO BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE* – was published in Norway in October 2006 to wide acclaim and strong media attention. It describes (in 15 chapters from 15 different countries) how travel and tourism threaten as well as protect the world’s outstanding natural and cultural sites and destinations. A second, updated soft-cover edition came out in late 2007, with a new chapter summarizing the debate on travel in the face of impending climate change. The book was published in France in late 2009, OU PARTIR AVANT QUI’IL SOIT TROP TARD. An international version of the book, updated and expanded, was published in 2013. Title: LAST CHANCE DESTINATIONS: HOW TO EXPLORE THE WORLD WHILE MAKING IT A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE'

  • A TV pilot for a proposed TV-series, -WHAT PRICE PARADISE ? -was shown on BBC World in 2006 , and was screened in Norway in late 2008

  • Over the past 30 years I have written several hundred articles on travel, culture and environment in Norwegian and international magazines and newspapers

*Quote from the book’s preface, written by editor J. B.Tourtellot National Geographic Society: “With this book Arild Molstad reports not only on the enjoyment of travel, but also on the effects tourism has on the places we visit. The enormous, growing size and impact of tourism makes this book incredibly important.”

Travel & Tourism

  • He has have organised a number of international seminar on sustainable tourism , featuring prominent speakers present from around the world. Also, he has been responsible for auctions, whose funds have gone to fighting sexploitation of children in Asia.

  • Consulting assignments include a 1994 strategy for NORAD on how the Agency should approach and engage themselves in sustainable tourism in the developing countries. This led a.o. to a mission on the development of sustainable tourism as a development tool for Sri Lanka, recommending a stronger focus on the country’s cultural heritage.

  • UNESCO’s Nordic World Heritage Foundation retained him as a part time consultant for six years . In this capacity he was in charge of a comprehensive report in 1999 – Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Tourism – highlighting ”best practices” around the world, pointing to opportunities for private and public organizations to establish partnerships in a.o. developing economies. The report was co-authored with other international experts.

  • Working with Nordic World Heritage Foundation and the development economist Stein Hansen, he was asked in 2008 to formulate a recommendation to Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on how Sustainable Tourism could help reach UN’s Millennium Development Goals while protecting biodiversity. The report was delivered to Norway’s MFA, resulting in a.o. a two-years consulting assignment for Norfund on their tourism investment projects globally. He became a project coordinator for NWHF to produce a 3-5 days’ lecture series – Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Tourism - a pilot project financed by the Norway’s MFA to teach stakeholders and students to think long-term and strategically when engaged in destination development.

  • He was the project coordinator for an awareness-raising effort involving mass media, tour operators and UNESCO to sensitize travellers to ecotourism principles and to the World Heritage idea and convention.

  • As a representative for National Geographic’s Center for Sustainable Destinations, he has been instrumental in developing geotourism as part of the platform for Norway’s tourism development via Innovation Norway and Hurtigruten 2007-12

  • Director for Project Development 2012-15 - to develop sustainable tourism as a development tool in Burma(Myanmar)for Partnership for Change/Aung San Suu Kyi World Freedom Fund. Extensive travel in Myanmar; co-chaired in 2013 the country’s first tourism conference. Participated as a tourism expert in an IID international project to save Myanmar's Inle Lake, the country's second most popular tourism destination and a precious ecosystem. He was an advisor to Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to plan and finance Myanmar's first Master Plan for Sustainable Tourism

  • Initiated REIS NEPAL, a 2-year fundraising campaign in Norway to help Nepal revitalize its tourism after the 2015 earthquakes

  • He remains active as a writer and consultant, most recently to help upgrade Norway's sustainable tourism policies, while continuing my international engagements

  • Currently: Tourism advisor for the international High Level Panel – www.oceanpanel.org – on contract with the World Resources Institute in Washington D.C and London