Balcombe initially served as chief executive of VisitBritain before taking on the VisitEngland brief too. Dame Judith Macgregor, interim chair of the British Tourist Authority, will lead the search for Balcombe’s successor.
In a departing message, Balcombe hailed the country’s "world class" tourism industry and reflected on the challenges posed by the Covid crisis.
"When I joined, in 2014, we were already a high performing agency supporting a world-class, successful industry," she said. "Until the pandemic, our industry went from strength-to-strength, attracting record numbers of both visits and spend, creating jobs and economic growth.
