Who is Who
Hjörtur Smárason
Strategic advisor and communications expert. Hjörtur Smárason is the founder and lead strategist at Saltworks ehf., a strategic advisory for place branding, sustainable tourism development, tourism recovery strategies and crisis communications.
Hjörtur is the former CEO of Visit Greenland, where his role was to lead the tourism industry through COVID-19 and lay the ground for the positioning of Greenland as a leading adventure and sustainable tourism destination. Greenland became the first country in the world to fully recover from COVID-19 and had a record year in tourism already in 2022.
Hjörtur is a popular keynote speaker, moderator, and workshop facilitator and has spoken at events in 30+ countries all around the world. He taught at the tourism department of Holar University College in Iceland and is the founder of “The Nordic Journey,” a network of destinations developing sustainable tourism in the Nordics and the North Atlantic.
Strategic Advisor
Hjörtur has worked with startups, corporations, cities, countries, and public figures on their communications and public diplomacy strategies, stakeholder management, strategic planning, and sustainable development. He has been a strategic advisor to the Iceland Space Agency, head of PR at a space startup, and created astronaut training programs in the Icelandic wilderness together with an astronaut from NASA.
Hjörtur has been an advisor on crisis communications and recovery strategies for places following earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, economic collapses, political turmoil, and conflict, including the Nepal Tourism Recovery Strategy after the 2015 earthquakes, Greenland during and after COVID-19, countries in the Middle East and Africa, and currently the tourism authorities of Ukraine.
Innovation, economic development, and sustainability strategies, in particular for rural and remote areas. With experiences from both Arctic destinations in Europe, North America, and Russia, as well as remote destinations in Africa, Asia, and Europe, Hjörtur offers everything from single workshops to tourism masterplans and long-term place branding strategies.
Visit Saltworks.is for more about Hjörtur's strategic consulting offer.
Speaker
Hjörtur is a popular keynote speaker on storytelling strategies, sustainable tourism development, place branding, and crisis management at conferences and events worldwide, and a regular contributor to books and articles on the subjects.
Hjörtur has spoken at events in New York, London, Berlin, New Delhi, Singapore, Sapporo, and many more, including major tourism events such as Skift, ITB, WTM, and ATWS. All talks are customised to the client and the audience.
Hjörtur is a member of the Who's Who of Place Branding Impact Makers and a long-time contributor to TPBO's panel of industry experts.
Speaking Topics
Adaptability in a Changing World - a thought-provoking talk that starts with a strong story about the impact at the epicentre of climate change, Greenland, how we need to rethink how we do tourism and how the tourist industry will develop, and ends with a story about astronaut training, adaptability, and the astronaut perspective. Can also be custom made to other industries and audiences
How to Outrun a Rhino - an inspiring talk about the stories of a place, identity and reputation, how you build up the story and different ways of communicating it, supported with fascinating examples of great storytelling
Never Waste a Good Crisis - a talk about crisis communications and crisis management, based on experiences from Iceland where two consecutive crises resulted in a booming travel industry, supported with examples from Hjörtur’s work in Nepal, the Middle East, Africa, and Ukraine.
