Shake-up of tourism leadership follows 'infighting disaster'

Senior tourism officials confirmed yesterday that a major restructuring has taken place in North Yorkshire to ensure prime destinations including the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors are properly promoted.

The region's tourism organisation, Welcome to Yorkshire, has now appointed two new area directors in a bid to draw a line under the previous regime. Two tourism partnerships – one covering Harrogate and the Dales and the other responsible for the Moors and coast – have been ditched in favour of the new structure.

Coun John Blackie, a member of North Yorkshire County Council who runs a holiday cottage business, said: "The previous tourism partnerships were a complete and utter disaster, and did not do the business they were supposed to.

"There was a lot of squabbling and indecision and there was no clear strategy. It is not just here in the Dales – tourism businesses on the Moors and the coast also felt let down.

"Hopefully we will now get the clear leadership and direction which we have been calling for."

David Shields and Janet Deacon have been appointed as the new area directors, and will each be responsible for a team of officers charged with building up confidence in the new structure among the hundreds of tourism businesses in North Yorkshire.

They will also work closely with Gillian Cruddas, the chief executive of the successful Visit York tourism partnership.

Welcome to Yorkshire's chief executive, Gary Verity, said it was "imperative" to streamline the tourism industry to make it more effective. Area directors have already been introduced in West, East and South Yorkshire. Tourism is worth 6.5bn each year to Yorkshire's economy, and the industry employs nearly 250,000 people in the region.