Bénédicte Lapeyrère was born and grew up in France in the Jura mountains, where she started skiing at 18 months old. She is a qualified French ski instructor and still teaches occasionally. 

In 1983 she went to live for 3 years in the Ivory Coast, Western Africa, where she studied at the country’s first business school, and specialised in Marketing.

Back in Paris, she worked for Dunlop France for 3 years, first organising Dunlop 100’s part of worldwide anniversary celebrations at the 24 hours Le Mans race, then joining the Tennis and Golf department, in charge of organising all Dunlop-sponsored activities in France (French Open, Monte-Carlo Open, Trophée Lancôme…).

In 1990, the call of the mountains was too strong and Bénédicte moved to Méribel to join the family-run company, Ski Cocktail, as Deputy Director. For 8 years she ran the company with her brother, offering Ski School and Ski Rental to the British market (Tour Operator and direct sale) in Méribel, Courchevel, Val d’Isère and Albertville.

By 1998 a need for career development took her to London where she started at Maison de la France, the French Government Tourist Office, firstly on a contract to organise France 99, the French workshop held in Jersey gathering 300 French and British professionals of the Tourism Industry.
She was then offered the position of Head of Trade and Promotion department which she held for 3 years.
In this role she developed a deep knowledge of the Tour Operating Business in Great Britain and contributed to developing strong links between French and British professionals.
In 2002 she was promoted to Deputy Director in London, overseeing all the trade, press and advertising activities of the office.

After one year she was offered the opportunity of joining the newly opened office in Beijing, as Deputy Director, with a brief to develop the operational activities in China, Hong-Kong and Taiwan. She grew the office from 3 to 9 staff, and organised several workshops, exhibitions and road shows each year to introduce and train the new tourism industry in China to the French market.
She also took part in the organisation of major events such as the Jean-Michel Jarre concert at the Forbidden City or “The Incredible pique-nique on the Great Wall”.
It was a fascinating experience and a very fast learning curve in this ever-expanding market.

After 3 years, however, it was time to come back Europe, to the United Kingdom. First working 4 months for a PR and Marketing Representation Company, in 2007 she then joined SeaFrance as Project Manager for the Tour de France, developing their dedicated marketing campaign in the UK and organising the logistic aspect of their promotions on the occasion of the first ever Grand Départ in London.

Tourism Horizons was the next logical step. Having accumulated a wealth of different experience in the tourism industry, Bénédicte can now share it with tourism professionals and offer a personalised service to help them develop their business abroad.