Tourist board chief heads for new vision Cumbria's leading tourism champion, Chris Collier, yesterday announced her decision to step down as chief executive of Cumbria Tourist Board.

Ms Collier OBE will become chief executive of Cumbria Vision, the board set up in April last year to spearhead the revival of the county's economy.

After eight-and-a-half years at the helm of Cumbria Tourist Board, Ms Collier will begin her new role in spring.

She said: "I have loved my time at Cumbria Tourist Board, absolutely loved it - even during the hard times. The creativity within the organisation and the enduring support of the tourism industry here has made it a very special job."

She added: "Telling the team here that I was leaving has been one of the hardest things I've ever had to do but if ever there was a time to go it is now. Cumbria Tourist Board has a fantastic team in place and they will continue to be successful."

Cumbria Vision is a private sector-led board which recently appointed Staveley entrepreneur, David Brockbank, as its chairman.

It co-ordinates the efforts of a range of organisations working on the regeneration of Cumbria's economy.

With the county being in the bottom six worst performing economies in the UK, Cumbria Vision also has an influence in where public money is spent.

Of her new role, Ms Collier said: "I am inspired by what Cumbria Vision needs to achieve and delighted to be joining them. There is a massive job to be done and I will be doing my best to get the ball rolling. There are many people who have a part to play in turning around Cumbria's economy because that's what we have to achieve."

Eric Robson, chairman of Cumbria Tourist Board, said Ms Collier's contribution to the tourism industry could not be overstated.

When she took over in 1996, tourism in Cumbria was responsible for bringing in £506 million a year to the county's economy.

It now generates in excess of a billion pounds every year and supports more than 43,000 jobs or 22 per cent of all jobs in Cumbria.

Mr Robson said: "She took an organisation and an industry that was regarded as peripheral to Cumbria's economic future and made people in power realise that tourism is the county's main economic generator.

"She leaves us with a first class organisation that's got the recognition and support to do even greater things in the future.

"The loss of someone as well regarded as Chris could be uncomfortable in a less well ordered organisation, but I know that CTB will be able to cope with this change as professionally as they've handled the challenges of the past few years."

Highly-regarded for her determination to fight Cumbria's corner, Chris Collier was awarded an OBE for services to tourism in 2002.

Throughout the foot-and-mouth crisis, she rigorously lobbied Government to provide more support to the county's embattled tourism industry.