‘Forward-thinking people will make tourism a success’

The Island Coachways managing director has taken on the role, newly created by the Committee for Economic Development, which is designed to work in partnership with the industry to deliver and implement the marketing and events plans for Guernsey.

This will include developing a new tourism strategy.

Mrs Beacom, who is a member of the Guernsey Tourism Partnership, was appointed following a competitive recruitment process in which 14 people applied and five were shortlisted for interview.

She was pleased to get the job and was already looking to the next step.

‘The success of the board will be strongly linked to ensuring we have dynamic, forward-thinking industry experts around the table representing a cross-section of our diverse sector,’ she said.

‘Finding the right people to sit on the board will be my initial priority before we collectively focus on data collection to inform a post-Covid strategy to drive the industry forward.

‘I’m a member of the Guernsey Tourism Partnership and the view of its membership is that our industry is much stronger when we work together collaboratively, and the new board presents a fantastic opportunity for a range of stakeholders to contribute to the development of tourism at a strategic level.’

Economic Development president Deputy Neil Inder said a number of quality applicants had come forward for the job.

‘However Hannah stood out for her clear and holistic approach to tourism, which is a diverse industry with many stakeholders of differing views,’ he said.

‘Hannah was very impressive and will, as chair of the new Tourism Management Board, provide strong leadership for the board as it works at a strategic level to further the development of the industry.

‘Our committee has been quite clear from the beginning of this States term that we were not only willing to explore, but were indeed in favour of, a model for the governance of the tourism sector that’s based upon greater public and private sector partnership.

'We have agreed on a model that introduces the strategic input of a Tourism Management Board made up of industry stakeholders with an independent chair.’

Mrs Beacom has been Island Coachways managing director since 2003. She trained as a chartered accountant with Ernst and Young in Guernsey, before gaining further experience in private banking.