About Us

Who we are…
Visit Essex is the ofﬁcial tourism and destination management organisation for Greater Essex. Tourism is one of the largest business sectors in Essex contributing £3.6 billion annually to the region’s economy. Our principle purpose is to work in partnership with the public and private sector businesses to support economic growth, through marketing and promoting the wider county as a place to visit, live and do business, and to continue to grow tourism and ensure that you get your share!

Visit Essex is the only organisation speciﬁcally marketing and promoting the county to attract more visitors for your business, to ensure that Essex remains a leading visitor destination.

Our vision for the future is:
‘Greater Essex to be the best placed destination of choice close to London, for visitors and for business’.
We have developed a three year business plan with key aims and objectives which will help us achieve our vision and targets. Our main areas of activity include:

♦ Major marketing campaigns for consumer and business markets to attract visitors to the county
♦ High proﬁle PR activity to raise proﬁle and awareness of your products
♦ Business support, skills and training to help you grow your business
♦ Advocacy and lobbying to support tourism priorities locally and nationally

A Board of 11 tourism professionals and industry representatives with an independent Chairman, leads Visit Essex. The Board ﬁrmly believe that by working closely together in partnership and with a strong focus, we can maximise key opportunities, and overcome any challenges we are presented with to support tourism growth, and to continue to build a truly world class destination.

Meet the team

Lisa Bone - Strategic Tourism Manager

Lisa has a long history of working within the tourism industry spanning over 20 years. Lisa studied leisure and tourism first at college (GNVQ) before getting a BA hons degree in Tourism Management. Lisa worked for a number of leisure and tourism businesses including Air Atlanta, Dreamland Funpark, Hollywood Bowl, Owners Syndicate tour operator and the London Eye when it first opened in 2000. Lisa then moved into destination management, first for TourEast London promoting East London and then the London Borough of Southwark.

Lisa started at Essex County Council in 2008 and in 2010 launched Visit Essex, a destination management organisation that brings the public and private sector together. Since being at Essex Lisa has been involved in the 2012 Olympics and has delivered a number of European projects. Working in tourism isn’t just a job, or a career it is a passion and Essex is such a fantastic destination to promote with so many hidden gems.

Email: lisa.bone@essex.gov.uk

Cheryl Owen - Major Accounts and Sponsorship Lead

Born in Colchester, Cheryl lives in Wivenhoe and loves it for the picuresque walks along the Wivenhoe trail and the quayside, where you can sit down and watch the boats with a drink and fish & chips. Before joining Visit Essex, Cheryl's background has always been in hospitality working in pubs and hotels. As Major Accounts Lead she enjoys meeting the businesses and finding out about all the hidden gems in Essex. Her favourite place in Essex has to be Colchester Zoo, which she has seen built up from her first visit in the 70’s to the fantastic attraction she now visits with her grandchildren.

Email: cheryl.owen@essex.gov.uk

Anna Boon - Membership Officer

Anna joined Visit Essex after an initial career working in the travel industry, followed by a study break to attend art college. Following her degree she began working for Essex County Council working in various department dealing with finance and administration. As Membership Officer, with this background knowledge of the council, Anna continues to support the team with administration, finance and the website. Away from work, Anna enjoys feeding her artistic passions and exploring the cultural side of Essex, visiting its art galleries, festivals and theatres. Her favourite places are the Mercury Theatre and Firstsite Gallery but she enjoys blowing the cobwebs away walking along the vast Saltmarsh Peninsula.

Email: anna.boon@essex.gov.uk

Suzanne Reilly - Digital Marketing Officer

suzanne round 2 Suzanne returned to Visit Essex after a 6 year break (she just couldn’t keep away!) During this time she worked in the travel industry but loves Essex so much she swapped promoting the likes of the Caribbean and Switzerland for her home county. In her free time, Suzanne enjoys discovering our hidden gems, taking photos, learning about local history and rambling the Essex countryside. Her favourite places are Walton-on-the-Naze, Coggeshall and Dedham. Within the team, she looks after our Digital Marketing.