THE chairman of Cumbria Tourism has criticised the county council for axing its £89,500 annual funding.

Eric Robson, chairman of the Staveley-based tourist board, described the move as 'illogical and ill-conceived'.

It means the county council will end its annual support for the tourist board for the first time in 30 years.

Instead, it plans to plough more cash into supporting major cycling events like the Tour of Britain and the Tour series held in Barrow.

It follows a report to the ruling Labour and Lib Dem Cabinet by Jim Savege, the council's director of environment and community services, which was agreed in September.

But Mr Robson, the broadcaster and writer, pointed out that tourism brings in over £2 billion a year - dwarfing the £4m raised through one-off cycling events.

In an open letter to the Labour and Lib Dem Cabinet ,Cumbria's MPs and the Chairman of Visit England and Tourism MP Helen Grant, Mr Robson pointed out that around the country, other tourist boards get public sector grants of around 63 per cent, when the tourist board has only received seven per cent of its turnover in recent years. 

Mr Robson wrote: "Tourism makes a considerable net contribution to the inland revenue and therefore is a vital income and tax generator for the county and the UK as a whole. 

"It would seem sensible therefore, that there is some commitment made by the public bodies in Cumbria to ensure and safeguard the important revenue stream that tourism and visitors generate.

"As a bare minimum, there should be clear investment and improvement support from Government and public sector partners to enable the continued growth and expansion of Cumbria lucrative visitor economy."

He added: "The county council has put forward alternative plans to support tourism in future and has indicated that it is planning to invest hundreds of thousands of pounds of funds and officer time to support the Tour of Britain cycle race. 

"According to independent evaluation, the Tour of Britain generated about £4 million of visitor expenditure in Cumbria on one of two days in 2013 when it passed through the region.

"By contrast, a similar independent evaluation document highlights that Cumbria Tourism's 'place to be' campaign alone delivered over £4 million of incremental spend in 2013; a figure we are expecting to see double when the results for 2014 are available."

"Surely Cumbria Tourism is delivering better use of county council funding than the Tour of Britain," Mr Robson wrote.

Mr Robson has submitted the letter as part of Cumbria Tourism's response to the authority's ongoing budget consultation.

A council spokesman said: “Like all of our budget consultation responses, we will collate and consider them before making a decision. We are pleased that organisations and individuals are giving us their views and feedback on our proposals.”

Ian Stephens, MD of the tourist board, said recently that the organisation has gone from being 90 per cent funded by the public sector, to being 95 per cent funded by the private sector.

It follows the closure of its main grant-giving body, the Northwest Regional Development Agency by the incoming Coalition government in 2010.