Industry leaders have welcomed the establishment of a single body to promote England as a tourist destination.

VisitEngland, which replaces the England Marketing Advisory Board, will take overall charge of tourism marketing, activity that had previously been devolved to Regional Development Agencies.

Hospitality figures have long argued that this has created significant problems for tourism because of a lack of co-ordinated promotion of England as a destination.

The VisitEngland board will feature Tourism Alliance chairman Ros Pritchard and British Hospitality chief executive Bob Cotton as “observers” providing a direct link to industry.

Pritchard said today: “The VisitEngland Board has been given a clear and strong mandate to ensure the alignment of England marketing with regional and local marketing objectives and to oversee the Enjoy England marketing strategy. 

“This means that the industry will regain the co-ordination required to ensure that it is competitive in the international market.” 

Cotton added: "We are delighted that England now has an organisation that focuses on domestic tourism. We can't forget that it represents some 80% of tourism in England.

“It's vitally important that we promote England to the home market more strongly than ever before."

The national and regional tourism bodies, local authorities and the private sector have agreed to work together through VisitEngland – which will receive ring-fenced funding from VisitBritain - to maximise the tourism benefits in the lead-up to the 2012 Olympics.

English tourism needs better co-ordination, say industry leaders >> 

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By Daniel Thomas