The World Travel Market (WTM) Chairman,
Fiona Jeffery, has received an OBE in the New Year Honours list in
recognition of her services to the travel and tourism industry.
As
a long-term advocate of sustainable travel, her achievements include
creating World Responsible Tourism day in 2008, after which she was
awarded Shine Woman of the Year. She was also responsible for creating
the Ministers Summit.
In 1998, Jeffery founded Just a Drop water
aid charity as a way to encourage travel and tourism companies to give
back to the world in which the industry operated by helping reduce child
mortality caused by unsafe water.
Jeffery also helped to launch
the Arabian Travel Market in 1992 and was among 984 people who were
recommended to the Queen for inclusion in the 2012 New Year Honour list.
Also on the list was MD of Pleasure Beach Blackpool, Amanda Thompson, who received an OBE for her services to tourism.
Keeping
up a long family tradition, Thompson followed in the footsteps of her
father, granther and great-granther to continue building on the
success of the tourist attraction.
The great-granddaughter of
Pleasure Beach founder, William George Bean, Thompson became Managing
Director of the family company in 2004 having previously served as
Deputy Managing Director since 2000 and as a director of the company.
She
is also President of Stageworks Worldwide Productions, the
entertainment division of Pleasure Beach, which she formed in 1982 to
present live shows on stage and ice.
Commenting on the New Year
Honour, Thompson said: “I feel very honoured and deeply privileged to
have received this accolade and to follow in my father’s footsteps, as
he was also awarded the OBE for his services to tourism. It’s very
important for me to carry on in the tradition of Pleasure Beach and long
may the success continue.”
Executive Head Chef of the NEC Group Birmingham, Paul Gould has also received an OBE for services to hospitality.
Gould
has spent over 35 years with Amadeus, the venue’s in house catering
arm. He is responsible for catering for over 900 events a year and for
feeding 4.1m visitors. He is also the only chef in Great Britain to hold
a Gold title at: The World Culinary Olympics, The Banqueting Chef of
the Year Award, The Grand Prix D’Honneur and The Arthur Hope Trophy at
the British Cookery Open Championships.
Also on the list was
Brian Adam Hugh Callaghan, Chairman of the Callaghan Group in Gibraltar,
who received an MBE for services to Chess and Tourism; Jonathan Jones,
Director of Tourism and Marketing for the Welsh Government, who received
a CBE for services to Tourism in Northern Ireland and Maurice Victor
Laws, a catering consultant received an MBE for his services to the UK
Hospitality Sector.
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