Capital's tourism chief quits

The head of the London Tourist Board has dramatically quit her post as the capital struggles to recover from a disastrous slump in income from visitors.

Teresa Wickham has fired off a letter to Mayor Ken Livingstone, calling on him to develop an immediate action plan.

Her letter of resignation comes as London looks to the Queen's Jubilee celebrations to revitalise an industry that lost more than £1 billion in tourism revenue last year, largely because of the double disasters of foot-andmouth and 11 September.

Mrs Wickham - who twice flew to the US in a desperate bid to bolster tourism trade at the height of foot-and-mouth - steps down after only 18 months in the post.

She said: "I have done all I can for London. There is nothing more I can do. London was already losing significant numbers of American visitors before foot-and-mouth and there is no strategy put in place to reverse the trend.

"If nothing is done urgently, London will no longer be able to compete as a world city."

Tourism figures for last year revealed a 16 per cent drop in overseas visitors nationwide to just over 21million - statistically half of all tourists pass through London.

The head of the LTB, Richard Tobias, admitted in January the figures made "grim reading".

The departure of the highly rated Mrs Wickham, 53, formerly a director of corporate affairs with Safeway, brings a further headache to the industry.

She claimed the LTB was drastically under-funded and its cause underminded by the number of competing bodies within the tourism sector. She also complained that the board received only £2 million in funding to promote London with its population of seven million, but needs at least £12 million - whereas Wales, with a population of only four million, receives £30 million.

In her letter to Mr Livingstone, she said: "I believe London needs and deserves a properly funded and wellmanaged organisation that is truly representative of and reflects all aspects of its tourism.

"At the moment there are too many competing voices leading to unnecessary duplication and dilution of message.

"There is a lack of urgency in getting a strategy moving for the future. We urgently need an action plan developed." She called for the Confederation of British Industry, The British Hospitality Association and the Overseas Tour Operators form one board to give London a stronger voice.

She said: "An urgent action plan is needed and Ken is helping but not doing enough.

"He has been focusing on fighting privatisation, which will help tourism and is all well and good, but needs to do a lot more and push ahead with a long-term strategy.

"London needs to get its act together if it is to compete as a world city. We have got to fight hard. I have done my bit to get London in better shape.

"Until now all we've had are words. It's time for action. I wish my successor luck."

Mrs Wickham sits on the council of the Royal Agricultural Society and is a cofounder of the Women's Farming Union. She replaced David Batts as chairman of the LTB last year.

A statement from LTB managing director, Paul Hopper, said: "The board, together with its members and stakeholders, is grateful for Teresa's work to further the case for the development of tourism in London, during what has been an extraordinarily challenging time.

"We shall miss her energy and enthusiasm and wish her continued success with her other business interests."