SMALLER parts of Ascot are not reaping the benefits of tourism in the Royal Borough, it has been claimed by a key stakeholder in the town.

Craig Staddon, head of sales at Ascot Racecourse, claimed it ‘could be easy to lose sight of smaller parts of Ascot when looking at tourism’ at a meeting of councillors and members of the public last month.

More than 10 per cent of the population is employed as a result of tourism in the area.

It is estimated up to £253m is generated from day trips to the borough and £188 million is brought in from overnight stays.

Windsor is the second most visited town in the UK after London and the borough’s main attractions are centred there, with Legoland Windsor Resort, Windsor Castle and Royal Windsor racecourse welcoming millions of visitors every year.

Ascot Racecourse is another central hub tourists flock to regularly but Councillor Samantha Rayner claimed there was a need to look to the future for better delivery of tourism functions.

However, Cllr Rayner did also outline the pride taken in creating tourism in the borough.

This came after key stakeholders heard about Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead’s (RBWM) plans for the delivery of tourism across the borough through partnership working.

Members of RBWM’s Tourism Development Forum were told about the way in which other local authorities, such as Cambridge City Council and Oxford City Council, work with charities and the private sector to promote tourism in their patches.

A report produced for the forum suggested The Royal Borough’s tourism delivery model ‘should be in a private-sector led entity’ in order to ‘reduce taxpayer funding to the function’.