A TOURISM industry leader has voiced her concerns over the lack of public debate before councils in North Yorkshire agreed to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on hosting the Tour de Yorkshire.

Susan Briggs, of the Masham-based Tourism Network, which has worked with more than 80 destinations and 5,500 accommodation businesses and visitor attractions over the past 23 years, said the funding could be “a waste of local authority cash at a time when there are huge pressures on the public purse and many cuts that are affecting vulnerable people”.

She said the Tours de France and Yorkshire had showcased the area and provided entertainment, but questions remained over the kind of visitors that firms in the area wanted to attract and what longer term benefits the cycling events would bring, compared with other types of event or promotion.

Mrs Briggs has called for analysis of the type of visitors who are most likely to spend more, disrupt residents’ lives the least and, with the Tour de Yorkshire being staged on a bank holiday in May when many guesthouses are full, the times of year when there is potential to attract more visitors.

She said: “Surely we need to look at all these questions in detail and decide where and how to invest to secure the tourism industry’s future in Yorkshire.”