Steve Ridgw
12
| Hospitality Today | Spring 2017
Steve Ridgway CBE the helm at
Steve Ridgway CBE took up the post of BTA ( VisitBritain / VisitEngland ) Chairman on 1 April 2017 , appointed by Culture Secretary Karen Bradley .
At the same time , Denis Wormwell ( a BTA board member since 2009 ) will take up the role of chair of the VisitEngland advisory board , taking over from Lady Penny Cobham . Both appointments are for three years .
Until December , Wormwell was chief executive UK tour operating and hotel business Shearings Leisure Group , a position he held for almost ten years . During this time he led a management buyout of the business and under his stewardship the business grew to carry over 1.1 million customers a year .
Wormwell spent three years as a director of Thomas Cook Tour Operations , before joining National Express Group where he held the role of chief executive of the coach business for six years and was credited with growing and transforming the brand .
The handover to Ridgway from Christopher Rodrigues CBE ( right ), who has led BTA for ten years , was marked by a reception this month held in grandeur of the Locarno Suite at the Foreign Office , where the best of British seafood was showcased alongside Nyetimber sparkling wine from Sussex – which has beaten Champagne in blind tastings , just as VisitBritain hopes to beat France in attracting international tourists .
BTA ( the British Tourist Authority ) says that Ridgway as Chairman will “ provide strategic leadership to our work to boost tourism to and within Britain , leading the delivery of a new era of greater coherence and partnership for the visitor economy ”.
BTA ’ s Chairman works with VisitBritain ’ s private and public sector partners in England , Scotland and Wales to aid VisitBritain and VisitEngland in strengthening the marketing of Britain as a tourist destination overseas .
Ridgway becomes Chairman after having sat on the BTA Board since 2013 . He is also Non-Executive Chairman of StartJG , an international brand agency , following 13 years as Chief Executive of Virgin Atlantic Airways .
He began his business career at Sir James Goldsmith ’ s Cavenham Foods , and later joined the Toleman Group , as Business Development Manager ( 1979-81 ).