Yates, who is currently deputy chief executive of the national tourism agency, will step up on an interim basis with current chief executive Sally Balcombe due to stand down on 8 April.
Her appointment was confirmed at a meeting of tourism industry leaders on Tuesday (29 March).
The event, "rebooting the visitor economy", saw the sector outline its proposed measures to ensure tourism rebounds successfully from the Covid crisis.
“I am honoured to be stepping up as chief executive, continuing our focus on building back visitor spend as quickly as possible and supporting the industry, playing our part to deliver the ambitions of the UK government’s Tourism Recovery Plan," said Yates.
Yates continued: “We know there is pent-up demand for travel, Britain is a destination that people want to visit and in 2022 we have a year of landmark events. Our tourism businesses have innovated to survive through a myriad of restrictions and now is the time to drive the visitor recovery.
“I look forward to continuing to working with all our stakeholders, rebuilding our industry to ensure it is one of the most successful and productive sectors of the economy and to making the strongest possible case for one of the UK’s greatest sectors.”
British Tourist Authority chair, Dame Judith Macgregor, added: “On behalf of the BTA board and VisitBritain/VisitEngland, I am very pleased to announce that Patricia Yates has agreed to step up to chief executive in the interim, ensuring a smooth transition for the organisation as well as for the industry.
"Under Patricia’s leadership and experience, I am confident that we can make great progress as we continue to support the industry as recovery begins to get under way.”
