VisitBritain’s Chairman, Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge, today welcomed the announcement by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport that Christopher Rodrigues has been appointed as the new Chairman of the organisation with effect from 1 January 2007.

Lord Marshall, Chairman of VisitBritain commented:

'Christopher Rodrigues joins VisitBritain at a time when we are seeing record numbers of visitors to Britain, yet our tourism industry continues to face challenges and increasing competition from rival destinations. His  recent experience as President and CEO of  Visa International in the USA will be an asset as we launch a three-year campaign to revitalise the British brand amongst American consumers. His strong commercial and global experience will help in our work to explore new markets and develop new partnerships with the private sector on which our future tourism growth will depend. His sporting prowess and passion is an ideal background to understanding and capitalising on the once-in-a lifetime opportunity the 2012 Olympics offers to our visitor economy.

In addition to his eight years as Group Chief Executive of Bradford and Bingley plc, Christopher Rodrigues has held senior positions with American Express and Thomas Cook. His experience on the Executive Committee of the World Travel and Tourism Council, as Chairman of the Boat Race Company Ltd, as Non–Executive Director of Ladbrokes plc, and as a steward at the Henley Royal Regatta all have obvious synergy with his new role.

I believe that VisitBritain is a highly competitive, market driven organisation centred on pursuing growth, actively supporting the improvement of training and skills standards, significantly raising the levels of quality and value offered to the customer, creating attractive brands, and marketing and distributing Britain’s tourism products with world class professionalism

I wish Christopher Rodrigues and VisitBritain every success in the future.'

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Further information: 

Link to the Department for Culture Media and Sport website

Patricia Yates, Head of Press and PR, 020 8563 3207 mobile 07971 497003: 
Elliott Frisby, Corporate PR Manager on 020 8563 3035, mob: 07951 996241:
Sian Brenchley, Press Officer on 020 8563 3220, mob: 07971 497047

Notes to editors:

• VisitBritain is responsible for promoting Britain as a world class tourist destination and for developing England’s visitor economy. It has representatives in 36 countries around the world and, in the last three years, has expanded into China, throughout Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, and increased its presence in India with representatives in Bangalore and Mumbai.
• VisitBritain’s international website, www.visitbritain.com, was awarded World’s Leading Tourism Authority Internet Site for the third year in a row at the 2006 World Travel Awards by more than 200,000 travel and tourism professionals. With information provided in 26 different languages, every year over 12 million visits are made by international consumers to the 46 websites that make up visitbritain.com. VisitBritain plans to increase this to 25 million by 2009.
• In 2005, there were 30 million visitors to Britain, 8% up on 2004. They spent £14.2 billion in the UK: a 9% increase on 2004.
• Since its launch in 2003, Enjoy England has launched major campaigns for Waterside, Taste, Outdoor, Relax and City Culture as well as the annual Enjoy England Great Ideas publication and movie maps to inspire British visitors. It now operates in four near-European markets: France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands.
• An archive of media releases, information on VisitBritain's marketing activities, print quality, free-to-download images and more details about the work of VisitBritain in promoting Britain as a destination, can be found on VisitBritain’s online press centre, www.visitbritain.com/presscentre
  

Date: 5th December 2006