TOURISM contributes nearly £3 billion annually to the economy and employs some 55,000 people, making it a key industry for Essex. And with over 2000 years of history, 350 miles of glorious coastline and oodles of culture in Essex, it’s wonder tourism is booming.

To ensure this success continues and that the ‘tourism offer’ is extended even further - domestically and internationally – Visit Essex has appointed new board members with experience of working in or with the tourism, leisure and hospitality industries and has just held the first of its brand new Investor workshops.

The new members are Demetra Lindsay from Hedingham Castle, Andrea Lee from English Heritage, Steve Mannix from Colchester’s Mercury Theatre, Oliver Brown from Wivenhoe House Hotel and Sally Looker, who is independent, and Mary Tebje will be a co-opted board member.

Andrea Lee, English Heritage Marketing Manager for London and Essex, said: “I'm honoured to have been appointed as a Visit Essex board member and am excited to be working with my peers within the tourism sector in Essex.

“I'm looking forward to the challenges that will come our way and getting stuck in to ensuring that Essex is the number one tourist destination in the UK.”

The voluntary appointments will start right away and will require the commitment of attending quarterly board meetings and events working group meetings.

As a result of this Visit Essex recently held its first Investors Networking event at Chelmsford City Racecourse, where its key members had a chance to network with each other and also take part in a workshop designed to share ideas for practical ways to collaborate for the benefit of their business and customers.

Lisa Bone, Strategic Tourism Manager for Visit Essex, said: “This is an exciting time for Visit Essex. The Strategic Roadmap for Visit Essex outlines how we plan to grow and evolve tourism in order to gain economic growth for the county and to meet the needs of our members. We have a lot of exciting plans which are now getting underway.

“We’ve had excellent feedback from this first event with people finding it immensely useful, so I am hoping this will encourage even more people to become Investors in Visit Essex.”