Top tourism role for Bishop's Stortford businessman and broadcaster
Bishop's Stortford broadcaster and political pundit Nick de Bois is the new chairman of the British Tourist Authority (BTA).
The 63-year-old, who is a regular on both TalkRADIO and TalkTV, said he was "delighted and honoured" to take the role.
He said: "It’s been a tough three years for the tourism and wider visitor economy. I look forward to working with this extraordinary sector, Government and VisitBritain to build our international visitors and support the work of domestic tourism."
Nick, a Conservative MP for Enfield North from 2010 to 2015, takes up his new £40,000 a year post on November 1 for a three-year term. He was appointed by Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Michelle Donelan.
He has been chairman of the VisitEngland Advisory Board for three years since June 2020 and led the Government’s review of the funding and structures of England’s Destination Management Organisations.
In June, in the Queen's Birthday Honours, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in recognition of his services to the sector.
Before he entered parliament, Nick founded and was the managing director of Rapiergroup, an international events and exhibitions management agency. Set up in 1988, it delivers conferences, exhibitions and digital content for UK and international clients.
In 2016, he was appointed chairman of the first UK Events Industry Board, formed to advise the Government on a strategy to increase international visitors by bringing new events to the UK.
He resigned as chairman of the board in July 2018 to join the Department for Exiting the European Union as chief of staff and special advisor to the then Secretary of State Dominic Raab.
He and his wife Helen have lived in Bishop's Stortford for more than 16 years and in 2019, he reached the shortlist to become the Conservative Hertford and Stortford constituency candidate in that year's General Election.
As well as his media and tourism work, he has penned two books – an account of his time in the House of Commons called Confessions of a Recovering MP and his first novel, Fatal Ambition.
