VisitBritain was created on 1 April 2003 to market Britain to the rest of the world and England to promote and develop England’s visitor economy. It was formed by the merger of the British Tourist Authority and English Tourism Council and is legally constituted as the British Tourist Authority under the Development of Tourism Act 1969. It is a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB).

VisitBritain key visions are: -

At VisitBritain we are committed to developing the health and vitality of Britain's tourism offer.  We want to market only products whose quality is guaranteed to consistently meet and exceed consumers' expectations.  

Integrating Quality and Marketing
VisitBritain with its partners VisitScotland and VisitWales has responsibility for both assessing the quality of and marketing Britain's tourism products.  This integration of quality and promotion creates a unique opportunity to build Britain's long-term position as a quality brand.

The Quality Department at VisitBritain is primarily focused on developing and maintaining the quality schemes, communications of the quality message to consumers and the management of the contracts for the delivery of the quality assessments schemes in England.  Further explanation can be found on the relationship between Quality in Tourism (our main contractor), VisitBritain and Enjoy England by reading this explanatory note.

Agreement of Common Standards
Since 2005 VisitBritain, VisitScotland, Visit Wales and the AA have engineered common standards across all the British accommodation grading systems.  To date the following sectors have been reviewed and now have a common standards across Britain - Serviced (Hotels/Guest Accommodation), Hostels, Parks and Self Catering.