Brooks-Sykes lands Marketing Manchester tourism role
NICK Brooks-Sykes, the former director of tourism at the now-defunct North West Development Agency, is returning to the region after landing a leading role at Marketing Manchester.
Currently chief executive of Bath Tourism Plus, he will become director of tourism at Marketing Manchester in November.
At Marketing Manchester he will be responsible for delivering Greater Manchester’s tourism strategy in line with the recently updated Destination Management Plan 2014-20. Tourism is worth more than £6bn a year to the city region.
Mr Brooks-Sykes said: “I’m looking forward to working with the team at Marketing Manchester to ensure that Greater Manchester maintains and further improves its reputation as a global destination for leisure and business tourism.”
Andrew Stokes, chief executive of Marketing Manchester, added: “In recent years we have seen the value of tourism rise to £6.6bn from £5.2bn in 2008 and it currently supports almost 84,000 jobs throughout Greater Manchester but there is much more to achieve.
“As we continue to attract increased numbers of national and international visitors and grow our thriving business tourism industry which is worth approximately £822m per year to the local economy, Nick’s experience in the sector makes him a clear choice to help us achieve our objectives and we are very much looking forward to working with him.”
The appointment comes as Marketing Manchester joins the Manchester Growth Company, the group of publicly-funded organisations including MIDAS, and New Economy, which drives Greater Manchester’s economic development in relation to employment, skills, business support, inward investment, international marketing, the visitor economy, policy development and research.
Marketing Manchester’s staff will soon be relocating from Carver’s Warehouse, Dale Street to Churchgate House on Oxford Road.
