Lord Thurso was appointed as VisitScotland Chair on 1 April 2016. As Chair of VisitScotland he also serves as an Ex-Officio Board Member of VisitBritain.

In 2017, he was appointed the Queen’s representative for Caithness as HM Lord Lieutenant.  Born and brought up in Thurso the then Hon. John Sinclair was trained by the Savoy Group in London working at Claridges, The Berkeley, and The Savoy before being appointed manager of the Lancaster in Paris becoming Europe’s youngest 5-star hotel manager aged 27. In 1985 he became founder General Manager of Cliveden, what became Britain’s only “Stately Home Hotel” gaining a Michelin star for its food, 91% in Egon Ronay and 5 Red AA stars. Succeeding his father as Viscount Thurso in 1995 he was head hunted to take over the ailing Fitness & Leisure holdings Group, owners of Champneys Health Resorts and Clubs. Lord Thurso has also been a non – executive director of a number of companies including the Savoy Group PLC, Mosimann’s Ltd, Royal Olympic Cruise Lines Inc., and Walker Greenbank PLC which he also chaired. 

Lord Thurso sat In the House of Lords from 1995-99 as a Liberal Democrat active on business matters and Scottish affairs. Following the removal of the hereditary peers, in 2001 he was elected MP for Caithness,

Sutherland & Easter Ross a seat he held until 2015. He served on the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards 2012-13; for the 2010- 15 parliament he chaired the House of Commons Finance Committee, was a spokesman and member of the House of Commons Commission, and was

appointed to the Privy Council in 2014. In 2016 he also returned to the House of Lords through a hereditary peers bye election.

Lord Thurso chairs his family companies in Caithness as well as The International Wine and Spirit Competition Ltd and The North Highland Regeneration Fund. He is a Trustee of the Castle of Mey. He received a Catey Award for his contribution to Tourism and an honorary doctorate from Oxford Brookes. If he has time to spare he loves gardening and fishing.