Gerard van Keken is researcher, tourism product & concept developer and author at DACCLE Research. He graduated as human geographer in 1991 at Utrecht University and did research on the construction of identities and the creation of brands. In 2011 he finished his PhD at the school of Management, Erasmus University in Rotterdam on the construction of regional identities. He has extensive experience in academic research, defining (marketing) tourism strategies & visions, place branding & place making strategies, culinary tourism, touristic project management, tourism product development and organizing festivals.