British Tourist Authority and VisitEngland appoint new chairs

19 January 2017 by
British Tourist Authority and VisitEngland appoint new chairs

Steve Ridgway has been appointed chair of the British Tourist Authority and Denis Wormwell as chair of the VisitEngland Advisory Board by culture secretary, Karen Bradley.

The new appointments will become effective on 1 April when Ridgway will replace Christopher Rodrigues and Wormwell will take over from Lady Penny Cobham, for a three-year term.

Ridgway previously worked for Virgin Atlantic for 23 years, including as marketing director, customer services director and, for the past 14 years, as chief executive. He co-owns the St Moritz hotel in Trebetherick, Cornwall, with his brother.

Wormwell has been a VisitEngland board member since 2009. He was chief executive of UK tour operating and hotel business Shearings Leisure Group, until stepping down after 10 years last month.

The British Tourist Authority position comes with an annual salary of £40,000, while the VisitEngland role is paid £345 per day, or up to £16,320 per annum.

Bradley said: "Steve Ridgway and Denis Wormwell bring with them a wealth of experience and will be dedicated champions of British and English tourism at a very exciting time for the industry.

"I would like to thank Christopher Rodrigues and Lady Penny Cobham wholeheartedly for the invaluable contribution they have made to the tourism sector over the past decade and beyond."

Women 1st's Top 100 Women in Hospitality and Leisure >>

News profile: Christopher Rodrigues, chairman of VisitBritain >>

New VisitBritain chairman revealed as ex-Visa boss >>

Are you looking for a new role? See all the current hospitality vacancies available with The Caterer Jobs

The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking