National tourism agency VisitBritain/VisitEngland has announced that its deputy CEO Patricia Yates is stepping up to be CEO. She succeeds Sally Balcombe who steps down from 8 April.
While VisitBritain/VisitEngland brought tourism industry leaders together at a ‘Rebooting the visitor economy’ event on Tuesday 29 March, the agency took the opportunity to announce the appointment of Patricia Yates as CEO. An apppointment that comes at a time when the destination wants to ensure tourism rebounds, in order to it becomes once again one of most successful and productive sectors of the UK economy.
Graduated from the University of Oxford, Patricia Yates began its career among Which? as editor for « Holiday Which? ». She write about several topics such as tourism, travel and transport. In 2004 she became freelance writer for publications such as the Telegraph, the Times, the Daily Mail and the Express.
She joined VisitBritain one year later as Director of Strategy and Communication. She was responsible for for all external and internal communications, strategy development, policy and public affairs, analytics, research and evaluation of the company. She notably developed and delivered long term tourism strategy for the destination.
I am honoured to be stepping up as CEO, continuing our focus on building back visitor spend as quickly as possible and supporting the industry, playing our part to deliver the ambitions of the UK Government’s Tourism Recovery Plan.We know there is pent-up demand for travel, Britain is a destination that people want to visit and in 2022 we have a year of landmark events. Our tourism businesses have innovated to survive through a myriad of restrictions and now is the time to drive the visitor recovery. I look forward to continuing to working with all our stakeholders, rebuilding our industry to ensure it is one of the most successful and productive sectors of the economy and to making the strongest possible case for one of the UK’s greatest sectors.
Patricia Yates, CEO Of VisitBritain/VisitEngland
On behalf of the BTA Board and VisitBritain/VisitEngland, I am very pleased to announce that Patricia Yates has agreed to step up to CEO in the interim, ensuring a smooth transition for the organisation as well as for the industry. Under Patricia’s leadership and experience I am confident that we can make great progress as we continue to support the industry as recovery begins to get underway.
British Tourist Authority (BTA) Chair Dame Judith Macgregor
The agency is currently out in international markets with a £10 million GREAT ‘Welcome to another side of Britain’ campaign. The campaign is aimed to reassure travelers but also to promote the major events this year. Alongside the drive for immediate recovery, VisitBritain has funding to invest in building digital and data capabilities, ensuring it can remain competitive in an ever more digital world.
