Tourism Alliance has criticised the government's priorities for funding, saying it would rather spend vital money on visits to the Beijing Olympics than on promoting the London 2012 Games.

The outcry follows news that VisitBritain may have to cut 65 per cent of its staff after the government reduced its funding by 18 per cent.

Chair of the Tourism Alliance, Bob Cotton, said: "It's staggering that we're happy to spend near enough £1m on sending politicians, who may not be in office by 2012, to Beijing but deny, on the grounds of economy, any extra funding to VisitBritain in order to promote London's Olympic Games."

The 600 publically-funded British workers and officials at the Beijing Olympics will cost the UK £7m, but Cotton is outraged that "the government cannot yet find a single penny with which to promote the London Games."

In response to the government's plans to form a public private partnership that will promote future tourism, Cotton said: "Private partners will be looking for some serious commitment and resources from the public sector, which – on the evidence so far – is precisely what we don't have from the government. This only highlights its obstinate refusal to take tourism seriously."