Visit Isle of Wight (VIOW) confirms leadership transition as the organisation prepares for a marketing-led BID 3.
Visit Isle of Wight today confirms that Dominic Wray (pictured) will step down as Chief Executive at the close of the current BID term, having completed the interim mandate he was appointed to deliver.
Dominic joined VIOW February 2026 on an interim basis with a clearly defined brief: restructure the organisation, find a sustainable funding model, rebuild the business plan, and establish precisely what the next BID term would need in order for the Island’s destination organisation to succeed.
Rebuilding the funding model
That work is now done. Over the past seven months, VIOW has:
- Rebuilt the funding model. The flat 1.75% levy had not been adjusted for inflation in years, and its real value had quietly eroded while delivery costs rose. Simply restoring its present-day equivalent (2.42%) would still not have funded a competitive destination marketing organisation. BID 3 proposes a stepped levy from 1.75% to 6%, set by sector and by benefit, and removes the £150 minimum payment altogether so that the Island’s smallest businesses pay less than they do today.
- Restructured the organisation and its cost base. Dominic rebuilt VIOW from the ground up -stripping out cost, removing duplication, and redesigning every role around delivery. The result is a leaner, sharper organisation with a cost base built for purpose: less spent on running VIOW, and more available to do the one thing it exists to do – market the Island.
- Built a robust five-year business plan through BID Live sessions attended by 54 businesses, one-to-one meetings with levy payers, survey responses from across the visitor economy, and scrutiny by a board of 15 drawn from levy-paying businesses, the Island’s major transport operators and Isle of Wight Council.
- Directed the money where it belongs. Under BID 3, two-thirds of all expenditure goes into projects and services marketing the Island, rather than into running the organisation.
Why a marketing director, not a new chief executive
The most significant conclusion of that work is a structural one. Visit Isle of Wight is a Destination Marketing Organisation. Its purpose is to bring visitors to the Island and value to the businesses that serve them. An organisation with that purpose should be led by a marketing expert.
VIOW will therefore not be recruiting a replacement Chief Executive. Instead, the organisation is recruiting a Marketing Director to lead VIOW into BID 3. They will now seek a creative, strategic, commercially minded marketing leader whose remit is the work itself: brand, campaigns, digital, partnerships and delivery.
The business foundations that Dominic was brought in to build do not need a chief executive to maintain them. They will be held by a strong Chair, an engaged board, and part-time specialist financial support.
That structure keeps governance and financial control robust while directing the maximum possible share of levy income into marketing the Island – which is what levy payers pay for, and what the plan they are voting on commits to.
Wells: Dominic has handed us a credible plan
Steven Wells, Acting Chair of Visit Isle of Wight, said,
“Dominic was appointed to do a specific and difficult job, and he has done it. He inherited an organisation that needed rebuilding and he has handed us one with a credible plan, a sustainable funding model and a clear sense of what it is for.
“The board’s judgement, and Dominic’s own recommendation, is that the next chapter calls for a different kind of leader.
“VIOW exists to market the Isle of Wight. From BID 3, marketing will sit at the very top of this organisation, not one level below it.”
Wray: VIOW’s future does not depend on having a chief executive
Dominic Wray, Interim Chief Executive of Visit Isle of Wight, said,
“I came in to fix the business, not to run it long term. The revised funding model works. The business plan is built. We know exactly what BID 3 needs to deliver and what it will cost.
“The single most valuable thing I can tell the Island’s businesses is what the work has taught me: VIOW’s future does not depend on having a chief executive. It depends on having outstanding marketing.
“Appointing a Marketing Director to lead this organisation is the right decision, and I would rather hand over to the right person than stay in a role the organisation has outgrown.”
What happens next
Dominic will remain in post through the ballot, working with the board to complete the transition and support the incoming Marketing Director. Recruitment for the Marketing Director role is now open with the appointment happening on the condition of a successful ballot.
Ballot papers will be issued to all eligible businesses on 1st October 2026 and must be returned by post no later than 5pm on 29th October 2026. Every Island business with a vote decides whether the Isle of Wight has a funded destination organisation for the next five years, or doesn’t. There is no alternative source of funding for this work, no replacement body, and no plan B.
Further information about Visit Isle of Wight, Wight BID and the new role, please visit the website.
News shared by Amy on behalf of Visit Isle of Wight. Ed
