FUTURE support for tourism in the Tees Valley will be outlined this week, following the winding up of the organisation involved in its delivery.

VisitTeesvalley closed last week with the loss of nine jobs, after its parent body Tees Valley Unlimited (TVU), which will become the Tees Valley Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) this year, had its budget slashed from £9m to £2m.

Tourism supports 11,000 jobs and brings in £542m to the Tees Valley each year.

In 2009, it emerged that the North-East’s overall £4bn tourism industry, which employs 60,000 people, had bucked the national trend as the only area outside London to experience an increase in visitor numbers.

TVU – made up of public, private and voluntary bodies – was established in 2006 to improve the economic performance of the Tees Valley.

Representatives from TVU, the local authorities, businesses and other interested organisations will be at Wynyard Hall, near Sedgefield, County Durham, tomorrow to hear how tourist services will be delivered beyond March.

Stephen Catchpole, managing director of TVU, who will speak at the event, said: “Unfortunately, the reduction in funding available to TVU from this point on means that we will only have the resource to provide one transitional post dedicated to tourism activities.

“However, our local authority partners will explain what continued services they intend to provide for the sector.

“I should like to pay tribute to the work of both the board and staff of visitTeesvalley in conjunction with the sector.

“Tourism remains a key element in transforming our economy and I see it as an integral part of our regeneration and growth strategies.”