The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Oliver Dowden CBE has appointed Nick de Bois as Chair of the Visit England Advisory Board and Sir Patrick McLoughlin CH as Chair of the British Tourist Authority.
In 2016 Nick was appointed Chairman of the government’s first UK Events Industry Board where he advised the government on the implementation of its Business Events Strategy, launched in 2015. The strategy set about securing an increase of inbound international visitors. He was previously Managing Director of international
events and exhibitions management agency of Rapiergroup, which he set up in 1988, before becoming Member of Parliament (MP) for Enfield North from 2010-2015. He resigned as Chair of the UK Events Industry Board in July 2018 to join the Department for Exiting the European Union as Chief of Staff and Special Advisor to Secretary of State Dominic Raab.
Sir Patrick takes the Chair of the British Tourist Authority after holding positions as Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Transport, the Department of Employment, the Department of Trade and Industry, and as a member of both the Parliament Restoration Board and of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee.
