Board Members – Visit England Advisory Board

Board Members – Visit England Advisory Board Closed

Closes 03rd April

Tourism is a crucial industry for the United Kingdom and is made up of a variety of different kinds of enterprises, including accommodation providers, attractions, cultural activities, exhibition and conference facilities, passenger transport, and sport and recreational activities.

Importance of the UK tourism industry

Visit Britain’s latest inbound tourism forecast for 2025 shows that international visits overall and visitor spending to the UK are set to increase on 2024 levels, although with varying rates of growth from across our major inbound markets. The overall forecast for spending by international visitors in the UK in 2025 is £33.7 billion, up 7 per cent on the spending predicted in 2024.

Looking at the number of visits to the UK, 43.4 million visits are forecast, up 5% on the 41.2 million expected in 2024.

Visit Britain’s analysis also considers tourism’s overall competitive position globally. If inbound tourism to the UK was to grow at the same pace as forecasts are currently indicating for Western Europe, the industry would be worth an additional £4.4 billion per year by 2030 to the UK economy.

The Visit England Advisory Board has been in existence since the Development of Tourism Act 1969 and is legally constituted as the English Tourist Board, an advisory Non‑Departmental Public Body. It is responsible for advising the Board and the Senior Team of the British Tourist Authority, which operates as Visit Britain and Visit England with ring‑fenced funding for Britain and England activity, on matters relating to tourism in England, and thereby helping to drive economic growth and excellence in English tourism.

It recently advised on the criteria for assessing grant‑funding applications to the Discover England Fund and its comments and advice were then communicated to the BTA Board to inform its decisions.

Visit England is accountable to the BTA Board and the Accounting Officer of BTA exercises the responsibilities through a governance framework put in place in 2016 which details the corporate governance arrangements.

• The priorities for English tourism
• The 2024‑25 corporate priorities for Visit England are to:
• Lead England’s visitor economy to be resilient, sustainable and world class;
• Grow the visitor economy, and help English destinations win more business events
• Continue the reshaping of the Destination Management Organisation landscape by accrediting the final group of Local Visitor Economy Partnerships;
• Supporting the range of SME and businesses in the Visitor Economy, by building their expertise, improving accessibility and helping business to transform the way they work to compete in a digital world
• Drive the regenerative tourism agenda for England.

This post is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. For more information, please refer to the Commissioner’s website.

Board members are expected to contribute effectively to the overall work of the Visit England Advisory Board, chaired by Lady Victoria Borwick since September 2023, in providing expert advice and support.

The main responsibilities of board members are:

• Contribute effectively to the discussion of the Visit England Advisory Board and support the Chair of the Board.
• Support the Chair in advising the Board of the British Tourist Authority on matters relating to English tourism.
• Support the Chair in ensuring that the Visit England Advisory Board membership and governance is constituted in such a way as to provide the most relevant and expert advice and experience on a range of key topics of increasing importance, including (but not limited to) the needs of English destinations, digital marketing, grant management and local economic development issues.
• The Board Members must provide support and challenge as necessary to the VEAB Chair to ensure that the BTA retains an appropriate separation of England only activity and funding.
• Champion England domestically as a visitor destination.
• Attend Board meetings and events around the country.

• A commitment to the purpose and objectives of the VEAB and an understanding…