Robinson was born in Northampton, UK in 1956 and was educated at Wellingborough School before completing a degree in Geography at Magdalene College, Cambridge University in 1978. He married Dara Beard in 1979. They have two sons: Phillip (1989) and Tim (1994). In 1995 the family moved to Toronto Canada and became Canadian citizens.

Robinson's professional background is rooted in travel, commencing in the UK in the late 1970s when he joined Thomson Holidays, the worlds’ largest Tour Operator later becoming a General Manager. After positions with Diner's Club UK, Avis Europe and Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising, Robinson became General Manager of Sovereign Holidays at the old Owners Abroad Group, a leading UK holiday company. He participated in the re-launch of the group as First Choice Holidays in 1994 and the following year performed a similar role for the company's Canadian Tour Operations as they became Signature Vacations (6). Robinson stayed in Canada as National Marketing Director at Signature, one of Canada's largest Tour Operators. In 2001 he moved to lead the marketing team at Sunquest Vacations, now part of Thomas Cook, one of the largest leisure travel companies in the world.In 2004 Robinson set up his own company, Chris Robinson Associates, which provides consulting services to the Canadian travel industry. He also produces and hosts two popular travel shows on Canadian radio: the Chris Robinson Travel Shows on Newstalk 1010 CFRB Toronto and CJAD 800 Montreal.He advised the Canadian Tourism Commission (7) on their Canada Marketing Committee for ten years and was elected Board Member and Treasurer for Discover America in Canada (8) in 2007. He is a professional travel writer, co-author of the textbook, "Marketing for Tourism", and is a Fellow of the Institute of Travel and Tourism (9) and of the Royal Geographical Society (10).