New Years Honours for tourism chiefs as Britain expects record year

By Emma Eversham

05-Jan-2015 - Last updated on 05-Jan-2015 at 10:27 GMT

Related tags: Order of the british empire

Simon Vincent of Hilton received an OBE in this year's New Years Honours

Former VisitBritain chief executive Sandie Dawe and Michael Cantlay, the chairman of VisitScotland are among those who have been honoured by the Queen in the 2015 New Years Honours list as tourism execs predict a record year for inbound tourism to the UK.

Dawe MBE, who was with the tourism body for five years before leaving last summer, was awarded a CBE while Cantlay, made chairman in 2010, gained an OBE for services to the tourism and hospitality industry in Scotland.

The accolades come as VisitBritain forecasts a record year for tourism in 2015 with inbound tourism spend set to reach £22.1bn.

Within the hospitality industry an OBE was awarded to Simon Vincent, president, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Hilton Worldwide for services to hospitality. Christine Yau, founder and owner of Yming Chinese restaurant in London, Wendy Bartlett, founding owner of contract caterer Bartlett Mitchell and Stewart Spence, owner of Marcliffe Hotel & Spa were awarded MBEs for their services to hospitality.