Tourism agency to shut as council pulls funds

TOURISM agency Visit Lincolnshire is to call in administrators after hundreds of thousands of pounds in funding was withdrawn by the county council.

The agency, which promotes the county's 1bn tourism industry, said it would cease trading at the end of March.

The council gave Visit Lincolnshire 268,680 this year but plans to pull its funding in 2011-12.

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Visit Lincolnshire's interim chief executive, Mark Etches, said: "Despite our best efforts to persuade Lincolnshire Council to recognise the value of Visit Lincolnshire and our role in promoting and growing tourism – worth 1bn to the local economy and employing 17,000 people throughout the county – Lincolnshire will be left out in the cold nationally and internationally."

Chairman Jon Grubb said the board had taken the decision "with a heavy heart", adding: "It means, for the first time in several decades, there won't be a body promoting tourism to the county," he said.

"In my opinion that's a huge gamble with an industry worth nearly 1bn a year."

The agency said a notice of intention to appoint administrators would be lodged in court "during the next few days".

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Unless funding can be secured, the official administrator is expected to begin disposing of the agency and its assets in mid-February.

Lincolnshire Council is due to meet next month to confirm its budgets for 2011-12.

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