(Vancouver, Canada) Sir Ian Prosser, Chairman Bass PLC and Executive Member of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), accepted the appointment of WTTC Chairman today. Sir Ian takes over from Harvey Golub, former Chairman & CEO, American Express Company, who served as Council Chairman from 1996 to 2001. Sir Ian is the WTTC's first european Chairman.

As WTTC Chairman, Sir Ian will provide the guiding light for implementing the organization's new strategy and structure. This includes WTTC's Seven Strategic Priorities that call for better public-private sector co-operation in seven areas which are universal for Travel & Tourism's prosperity.

As Chairman of Bass, Sir Ian has steered the company from its brewing heritage to become the world's leading hotel group and the UK's leading operator of managed restaurants, pubs and bars.

>Key landmarks on Bass' evolution to a global hospitality company include the acquisition of the world's leading hotel brand, Holiday Inn, in 1990, the Inter-Continental chain in 1998, the Southern Pacific Hotels Corporation in 2000 and the UK's Posthouse Hotels in 2001. The company's brewing business, founded in 1777, was sold to Interbrew in August 2000.

Today, Bass Hotels & Resorts operates or franchises over 3,000 hotels in nearly 100 countries, trading under the brands Inter-Continental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Express by Holiday Inn and Staybridge Suites. Bass Leisure Retail manages over 2,000 outlets including the brands Vintage Inns, Harvester, Toby, Browns, All Bar One, Alex, O'Neills, Edwards, It's a Scream, Ember Inns and Goose. The company is one of the UK's largest employers and employs over 80,000 people worldwide.

The World Travel & Tourism Council is the global business leaders' forum for Travel & Tourism. Its Members are Chief Executives from all sectors of the industry, including accommodation, catering, entertainment, recreation, transportation and other travel-related services. Its central goal is to work with governments to realise the full economic impact of the world's largest generator of wealth and jobs - Travel & Tourism.

SIR IAN PROSSER was born in Bath, UK in 1943 and educated at King Edward's School, Bath, Watford Grammar School and Birmingham University, from which he graduated as a Batchelor of Commerce in 1964.

He was articled to Cooper Brothers (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers), Chartered Accountants, in Birmingham for three years and was admitted to membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales in 1967.

Sir Ian joined Bass Charrington in 1969 and was appointed to the Board of Bass Limited in October 1978 with responsibility for finance, computer services, planning, legal affairs, property and insurance. In July 1984 he was appointed Vice Chairman and Group Managing Director of Bass PLC, and Chairman and Chief Executive in 1987. On 1 October 2000 these roles were split with Sir Ian remaining Chairman.

He is a non-executive Deputy Chairman of BP Amoco p.l.c. and a non-executive director of Glaxo SmithKline. He was a director of the Council of the Brewers and Licensed Retailers Association from 1983 to 2000 and was Chairman 1992-1994. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the World Travel & Tourism Council. He is a member of the CBI President's Committee. He was a non-executive director of the Boots Company from 1984 to 1996, non-executive director of Lloyds Bank from 1988 to 1995 and Lloyds TSB Group from 1995 to July 1999 and Chairman of the Stock Exchange Listed Companies Advisory Council from August 1992 until February 1998.