A REVIEW of the city’s “outdated” tourism strategy has been agreed by a group of industry bosses and public representatives.

The Tourism Advisory Board (TAB) will also look into what can be done quickly to improve visitors’ arrival and experience in Brighton and Hove.

The review will be led by a small working group and will involve visiting other destinations to find out how tourism is run elsewhere.

The board was established at the end of last year to guide and advise VisitBrighton and Brighton and Hove City Council in the development and implementation of sustainable tourism.

Olivia Reid, vice chairwoman of the board and marketing manager of Terre à Terre restaurant, said: “We’ll be looking at the sustainability of tourism within the city and how it is managed within the council.

“One thing we agreed is the tourism strategy is out of date and needs to be redeveloped.

“Before that happens we need an overview of how the council is delivering funding.

“We’re nine months away from an election so whatever we discover it’s going to have to wait for the next administration.

“It’s accepted we’re going to face dramatic cuts.”

Marketing is publicly run by membership-funded organisation VisitBrighton. But tourism leaders feel the council has failed to recognise the importance of tourism – despite the sector employing 38,000 people, around 25% of the working population.

Geoffrey Bowden, chairman of the council’s economic development and culture committee, said: “Given the review is being led by representatives of the city’s visitor economy, nothing is off the table.

“In the context of increasingly severe government cuts, it is inevitable that new ways of delivering services have to be examined and assessed.

“Whether the council has a continuing role in VisitBrighton will, inevitably, be an area that the TAB will be looking into.

“We will have to await the outcome of the review to see what recommendations are made.”

The council is consulting TAB on its draft Tourism Strategy.