After his studies at NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences and Columbia College in Missouri, Hans began his career as Tour Director Europe for American tour operators in 1970. In 1975 he was appointed Sales & Marketing Manager Germany for the renovated seaside resort of Scheveningen, the Netherlands. In 1979 he was made Manager Sales & Marketing for the Clingendael Hotel Group with seventeen hotels, including Hotel Des Indes, Europa, Carlton, Delta, Boekelo. After several takeovers by the new owner Bass Plc., Hans was promoted to General Manager Sales & Marketing Europe for Crest Hotels, at the European head office in Frankfurt, Germany.

In 1988 Hans was designated Director Commercial Affairs & Operations of the ‘World Horticulture Exhibition Floriade 1992’. After the successful conclusion of this world exhibition, which attracted 3.3 million visitors, Hans decided to accept the position of Managing Director Flevohof with Walibi S.A. Belgium, in early 1993.

In this position, Hans was responsible for the design, construction and management of the new amusement park Walibi Flevo, and the adjoining festival park, where the ‘World Jamboree 1995’ took place and the well-known music festival ‘Lowlands Paradise’ is held every year. In 1998 he became responsible for the development, construction and management of Six Flags Holland, one of the biggest new theme parks in the Netherlands.

In 2000, Hans was appointed Managing Director of the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions (NBTC). Under his management, several mergers and reorganisations resulted in NBTC developing into a professional destination marketing organisation, with holland.com progressing into the main information and booking website for tourism to the Netherlands. In combination with the successful Rembrandt 400 Year, this resulted in the record number of ten million foreign tourists in 2006. 

Since March 2007, Hans has been Managing Director of HBPO, the Holland Business Promotion Office. The main task of HBPO is to coordinate the international business promotion of the principal economic industries of Randstad Holland, including transport & logistics, finance, horticulture, design & architecture, and tourism.

 Hans is an expert speaker on

• Developing theme parks and their relationship with city branding
• International events, such as the Olympic Games, and "nation branding"
• Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and incoming tourism
• Destination Visitors Model