Ben Boesch will work alongside Francis Torrilla as joint CEO to lead the UK specialist group.
Following the expansion of the DERTOUR Group in the UK market, Ben Boesch has been appointed joint CEO for DERTOUR UK and will work alongside Francis Torrilla to lead the group of 11 specialist businesses.
The size and scale of DERTOUR UK has expanded significantly over the past year, with ongoing projects to integrate the Hotelplan and DERTOUR UK organisations, manage innovation and technology projects and evolve the specialist businesses.
Starting in January 2026, Ben will take a lead on strategic direction of the UK group alongside Francis Torrilla.
Francis and Ben have already worked closely together within the DERTOUR Group, with Ben currently overseeing strategy and specialist businesses for the group, so it’s a positive, productive and familiar working relationship which will ensure the group moves forward with pace, focus and ambition.
Leif Vase Larsen, CEO DERTOUR International, said: “I’m very happy to welcome Ben to his new role; together with Francis we have a dynamic blend of outstanding experience and entrepreneurial spirit to lead the UK businesses into the future. Ben and Francis already work well together, so it’s a great partnership which will give our team in the UK the reassurance of strong leadership with different responsibilities yet a united vision for success.”
It’s anticipated the joint CEO structure will be in place for a year, with a view to Francis retiring towards the end of 2026.
About Ben Boesch
Ben is a highly experienced travel-industry executive with a strong commercial focus and a track record of delivering growth, strategic clarity and operational transformation across international markets.
He joined DERTOUR Group in 2023 and has for the past two years been running the Group’s strategic agenda, driving performance improvement, international expansion and stronger commercial outcomes for a broad portfolio of specialist travel brands.
Prior to DERTOUR, Ben was Chief Digital Officer at VFS Global, the world’s leading visa services provider, where he built transformation teams across four continents and delivered digital platforms and service enhancements used by millions of travellers each year.
Before joining VFS, Ben held leadership roles at Kuoni Group across strategy and commercial development. He helped build and scale several travel and technology ventures — experience that shaped his entrepreneurial mindset, passion for customers, and commitment to building strong, high-performing teams.
Comments from Ben and Francis
Ben said: “I’m very much looking forward to joining the DERTOUR UK group and leading the business alongside Francis, someone I know and respect enormously. We have an exciting future ahead of us and I know already there is a lot of talent in the team and I’m very excited about what we can achieve together. I love travel in all its forms, from discovering new destinations to deeply understanding the customer journey. We’ve got some of the most respected specialist brands in the market within our UK group all with huge potential and I can’t wait to get started.”
Francis said: “It gives me great pleasure to welcome Ben into our family of businesses. I look forward to working closely with him in taking our UK group to the next level. We’ve already set off on our journey in building a fantastic team with plenty of shared learning that we are already putting into practice across the whole group.”