ANGRY members of the North-East's tourism industry have vowed to continue their fight to save the Northumbria Tourist Board (NTB).

At a public meeting in County Durham, business members pledged to enlist the support of local authorities and councillors in an attempt to stop development agency One NorthEast taking over the running of the region's tourism industry.

The NTB faces an uncertain future after the chief executive of One NorthEast, Alan Clarke, said he did not intend to incorporate the board into its new structure for tourism.

But many members of the NTB feel that the way forward is a partnership between the two bodies and not a restructuring of support for tourism.

Speaking at the meeting at the Jersey Farm Hotel, Barnard Castle, Hugh Becker, a Teesdale businessman and tourist board executive member for finance, said: "It would be like throwing the baby out with the bath water."

In the past, the NTB has received £370,000 from the development agency. Although the board can survive without this money, chief executive Peter Sloyan said this was not the way forward.

He said: "During the foot-and-mouth crisis, One NorthEast and the NTB helped each other. We don't want to survive on our own, that would not be the right direction."

Many of the members at the meeting felt that One NorthEast's plan to deal with tourism on a sub-regional basis was flawed and the region was better served being promoted as a single entity.

Paul Weston, a guesthouse owner from Binchester, said: "I don't want to be part of a big bureaucratic organisation. That's why I joined the NTB because it is member driven."

John Sargent, the Tourism Cluster Manager for One NorthEast, said: "We respect and value the skills and experience of the tourism board. But the constitution and responsibilities of the current organisation don't fit our plans, and the chief executive doesn't see a place for the NTB.

"Although we can't work with the tourism board, we can certainly work with some of the staff from the NTB."