Expert blasts 'rip-off' London

London is a rip-off and doesn't promote itself well, two of the Mayor's key officials charged with boosting the city's image have admitted.

They said the marketing of the capital was years behind countries such as Scotland, with no "Visit London" website in existence or any programmes to train staff to work in the tourism industry.

They added that the £1.9 million of government money invested each year to boost the tourist industry was woefully inadequate.

And food is so bad around major attractions such as the Houses of Parliament with its hot-dog sellers, that the only thing to do at lunchtime is grab a sandwich from Boots.

The frank assessment of the tourist industry came from Tony Winterbottom of the London Development Agency (LDA) and Perry Phillips, a senior economist at the Greater London Authority (GLA).

The LDA is Ken Livingstone's regeneration body charged with promoting tourism, for which it receives the £1.9million annual grant.

The embarrassing comments come only three months after the high-profile launch of the Mayor's £7million "Visit London" strategy and when the tourism sector has been struggling amid the threat of war with Iraq.

Visitors to the capital spent £14.9billion in 2000, an amount equal to 12 per cent of London's GDP. They account for 30 per cent of all theatre tickets and one in four taxi fares and Tube journeys in the central area.

Mr Winterbottom and Mr Phillips made their remarks in evidence to the Commons select committee on culture, media and sport. Asked by MPs if London was a "rip-off", Mr Winterbottom said: "In part it is." He added: "The quality of some of the hotels is not as good as it might be... you have only got to talk to the majority of continental Europeans to see they find London as a very expensive place."

Mr Winterbottom astonished MPs by revealing that the Mayor's Visit London strategy - designed to reverse the effects of 11 September and the foot and mouth crisis that cost an estimated £1.5 billion in lost revenue - had no website.

Asked what could be done to replace "vile" and illegal hot-dog stalls in the St James's Park area, he admitted: "I struggle personally. I have to come here quite often to meet people and I slip into Boots for a sandwich. Where else do you go?"