Panel Member
Fiona Jeffery OBE
Former Chair, World Tourism Market Former Chair, Tourism for Tomorrow
Born in Scotland and a graduate of Edinburgh University, Fiona Jeffery has had a long and accomplished career
working in the travel industry, responsible for World Travel Market (WTM) from 1986-2013 both as Managing
Director and ultimately as Chairman.
She created and launched a responsible tourism drive across the industry globally, World Responsible
Tourism Day in association with the UNWTO, which is now the largest responsible tourism gathering across
the world. And launched the very first Ministerial Summit bringing the public and private sectors together to
debate, discuss and shape the industry.
In 1998, as part of her sustainability drive, Fiona also founded and is President of the international NGO Just a
Drop, bringing sustainable safe water, sanitation and hygiene education to communities across Asia, Africa
and Latin America, transforming lives. The organization supports 12 out of the 17 UN Sustainable Development
Goals and to date has worked in 32 countries and changed the lives of nearly 2 million people.
She also sits on the Board of the Institute of Travel & Tourism and Chairs their Sustainability Committee and as
a member of the UNWTO World Committee for Tourism Ethics successfully got agreement at the UN General
Assembly to convert the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics into a legally binding Convention. A former Chair of
WTTC’s Tourism for Tomorrow Awards Programme and Chair of Africa Travel & Tourism Association, she also
sits on the Advisory Board for the School of Hospitality and Tourism at University of Surrey.
In 2012, Fiona was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty the Queen for services to travel and tourism, and in 2013
received the TTG Contribution to Industry Award and the World Tourism Award for her philanthropic vision in
creating Just a Drop. She was recognized in the Directory of Social Change Influencer Awards in 2015 and was
inducted into the Global Travel and Hospitality Industry Hall of Fame in 2020. In 2023 she was awarded a
Bronze Medal for Individual Leader of the Year from the Global Good Awards and Just a Drop was awarded the
Pioneers Award from the Scientific Exploration Society
I felt honored to be involved in the inaugural TOURISE Awards. It’s an important time in our industry’s evolution to respond to the social, environmental challenges our industry faces and ensure we deliver a tourism experience that better reflects and supports the needs of local communities as well as tourists and protects the destinations we’re privileged to travel to. Quality is not always determined by luxury, it’s a mix of talents that reflect a destination, its culture and people authentically that is important. A destination that is managed and looked after responsibly that will sustain the test of time, these are some of the things I will be looking for.