Nick de Bois CBE has been appointed as the chair of the British Tourist Authority.
The former MP and chair of the Events Industry Board will serve a three year term, starting on 1 November 2022 until 31 October 2025. Interim chair Dame Judith Macgregor will resume her duties as a BTA board member.
De Bois has been chair of the VisitEngland Advisory Board since June 2020. During this time and acting in an independent capacity, he led the government’s review into the funding and structures of England’s destination management organisations.
He was Member of Parliament for Enfield North from 2010 to 2015. Prior to his election, he was founder and MD of Rapiergroup, an international events and exhibitions management agency that he set up in 1988 delivering conferences, exhibitions and digital content for UK and international based clients.
In 2016, he was appointed chairman of the UK Government’s first UK Events Industry Board bringing together industry and government agencies to advise the government on the implementation of its Business Events Strategy launched in 2015. This strategy set about securing an increase of inbound international visitors by winning new international events hosted at UK destinations. In addition, the board advised on securing growth of international visitors to established domestic events.
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 the Secretary of State Dominic Raab MP.
De Bois lives with his wife Helen in Hertfordshire. He is also an author of “Confessions of a Recovering MP” and his first novel Fatal Ambition as well as being a contributory programme host and broadcaster. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2022.
