VisitBritain Names Senior Vice President for the USA

VisitBritain, the national tourism agency for Britain, has named Carl Walsh as its senior vice president for the USA. In the newly created position – based in New York – Walsh will spearhead VisitBritain’s initiatives across the USA with a focus on implementing travel trade and communications strategies.

“I am delighted to announce Carl’s appointment to the newly created position of senior vice president, USA,” said Paul Gauger, VisitBritain’s executive vice president of The Americas, Australia and New Zealand. “He bring extensive tourism knowledge to the role, drawing from decades of experience both back in Britain and here in the USA, with significant industry relationships and insight gained from working with the travel trade over many years at VisitBritain.”

Gauger added that the creation of the new position “acknowledges the importance of the USA as the UK’s stop source market for tourism visits and spend…”

According to VisitBritain, the U.S. continues to lead tourism’s recovery in the UK with record-breaking spend by American visitors. Based on the latest year-to-date figures (Jan. to Sept. 2023), spend was up 28% over 2019 even when adjusted for inflation. The tourism agency expects the U.S. market to be worth £6.3 billion in 2024.