VisitBritain is updating its structure and staffing to enable it to take full advantage of the opportunities offered in the coming years. We want to be in the best shape to maximise the benefits offered to the visitor economy by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games ahead of the proposed joint launch of the 2012 tourism strategy in the summer. In addition, the increasingly competitive nature of tourism requires continued investment in the fastest growing tourism markets such as Asia.

The Indian market is showing good growth and if current trends continue VisitBritain would anticipate more than 500,000 visits a year from India within a few years. China’s growth continues apace and VisitBritain has a great opportunity to promote Britain at the handover to London at the 2008 Games in Beijing. During the past two years VisitBritain has successfully started marketing operations in Malaysia and Thailand and plans to assess further expansion into countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei and Vietnam. Reflecting the strategy of building an innovative online capacity, these will be a virtual presence mostly through the web rather than the opening of representative offices. 

To support the Asia Pacific team, Garry White will move from heading up Northern Europe to a new senior role in Singapore to lead in India, the Middle East and developing markets, lead marketing initiatives across the region and to act as a number two to Keith Beecham in the critical Asia region.

VisitBritain’s overseas network, and the market intelligence and focused promotion that this provides, is one of the organisation’s core strengths. Reflecting the importance of strong regional leadership, the General Managers overseas will become Regional Directors, reporting directly to the Chief Executive, Tom Wright. These Regional Directors will lead on three regions - Asia Pacific, America and Europe - with the European hub relocated to London and led by Frances-Anne Callaghan. The Americas hub will be led by Simon Bradley, who will take over from Rupert Peters and move to New York in the summer.

The individual brands of Britain (VisitScotland, Visit Wales and Enjoy England) have led on marketing Britain in Ireland for a number of years, with VisitBritain providing agency support services. These brands are now sufficiently independent that VisitBritain can withdraw this support in Ireland, a mature market, with the national tourist boards of Britain assuming responsibility. The VisitBritain office in Ireland will close at the end of October with a smooth transition over the coming months.

Recognising the importance of the 2012 Games in driving the Britain brand in international markets, the Brand Development and Brand Partnerships Unit will be led by Sandie Dawe, Director Strategy and Communications, who has steered VisitBritain’s Olympic-leveraging strategy from its inception. Central to VisitBritain’s marketing opportunities around the 2012 Games will be the development of long-term commercial and marketing partnerships with non-tourism partners. This team will take the lead on working with the Brand Partnership Unit, jointly established with Visit London, to develop a specific Britain brand proposition to present to potential 2012 sponsors. Over the coming months, the team will be setting up an industry-based London 2012 Marketing Consultation Group, developing a celebrity endorsement programme across all sectors and developing plans for VisitBritain’s presence at Beijing 08 with the British Olympic Association and a global handover celebration.

The Quality Department will move to Commercial and Marketing Services, led by Kenny Boyle, where it will benefit from a sharper business service focus which will add value to the 24,000 members of VisitBritain’s quality scheme. Rupert Peters will move from New York to head up this area, leading on the expanded quality remit around the 2012 Games and the broader quality and sustainable agenda, business services and commercial technology.

Marketing expertise will be consolidated under the leadership of a single Marketing Director, Michael Bedingfield. This unification provides an excellent platform for the increased involvement of public and private sector partners across the whole of the marketing team. The successful marketing and delivering of the Enjoy England brand will continue to be delivered by a dedicated team led by Laurence Bresh. The funding for England marketing will continue to be ring-fenced. A new Britain Marketing Department reporting to Michael will be established: this department will operate as an internal agency to provide services to the overseas markets including shared content and collateral. A shared Marketing Support team will ensure that VisitBritain services British, English, Scottish and Welsh interests ever more effectively overseas.

There will be a reduction of staff in the London Head Office with a managed impact on core services. The greatest reduction will be in the Publishing Department where our strategy of putting the web at the heart of everything we do has resulted in a 82% reduction in core print requirements since 2004. We are at the very start of our consultation period so whilst there will be some job losses – we estimate around 55 people globally – we have called for voluntary redundancies. In addition we will be creating around 10 new jobs in our reshaping of the organisation. 

These proposals represent an updating of the organisation for the challenges ahead and a continued drive for the most effective leverage of our marketing efforts. Topline structure charts detailing key contacts will be available in early June.

I look forward to our continued and combined efforts to ensure that Britain takes full advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead.

Tom Wright
CEO
VisitBritain

Date: 04.05.07