Announced on New Year’s Eve, Dr Sarah Green has been awarded with an OBE and Ian Thomas has been awarded with an MBE for their services to tourism.

Sarah Green has been at the helm of NGI since 2020, driving forward its mission to inspire people to visit, live, learn, work, and invest in Newcastle, Gateshead, and the wider region. Sarah’s leadership has seen NGI become one of England’s first accredited Local Visitor Economy Partnerships by VisitEngland having guided the organisation and the businesses it supports through the pandemic period to secure a major £2.25 million boost from UK Government to lead England’s first Destination Development Partnership Pilot (DDP).

As a member of the government’s Tourism Industry Council, a group made up of major players in the tourism industry, including international hotel groups, attractions operators and the aviation industry, Sarah has been a leading voice representing the country’s Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) and tourism businesses. She continuously advocates for further investment, skills development and inclusion of the visitor economy in the UK’s economic strategies.

A passionate and dedicated advocate for the North East, Sarah has spent over two decades championing the region’s businesses, qualifying as a lawyer and working internationally with Clifford Chance, before becoming CBI Regional Director and subsequently CBI Director of Region and Nations. Alongside her professional career, Sarah’s academic achievements include an MSC in Urban Regeneration from Northumbria University, an MBA from Newcastle University and most recently, a doctorate from Durham University Business School for her PhD assessing the social impact of small business on rural communities. Sarah is also an experienced non-executive director and is a senior council member for the National Trust.

Ian Thomas has dedicated more than two decades to the tourism industry, having studied Tourism Operations and Management at university before beginning his career at the Northumbria Tourist Board. Spells at regional development agency One North East and more than a decade at NGI have seen Ian make a profound impact on the visitor economy, as a leading researcher and tourism development professional.

Ian’s visionary leadership of the Destination Development Partnership has seen groundbreaking programmes like the world-leading regenerative visitor economy framework take flight, as well as leading innovative projects aimed at making the region one of Europe’s most accessible and inclusive destinations.

Using an evidence-based approach to inspire thousands of businesses to engage in Destination North East England’s work, Ian drives a significant amount of delivery alongside his responsibilities at NewcastleGateshead Initiative.

His keen eye for data and his leadership in visitor economy research has unlocked a huge amount of insight and intelligence which has informed policy regionally and nationally. He has worked tirelessly alongside policy makers to shine a spotlight on the region’s £6.1 billion visitor economy, an industry that supports over 63,000 jobs and attracts over 69 million visitors. Ian has also spearheaded a raft of skills and careers activity in collaboration with the region’s educational institutions to encourage a new wave of talent into the sector.

Both Ian and Sarah have worked regionally, nationally and internationally, to represent the region’s ambitions and its diverse business community, as well as laying foundations for a 10-year strategy which will set the region on a path towards doubling the value of the visitor economy over the next decade.