Britain's tourism chief has warned Brighton and Hove against dumping its image as a traditional seaside resort to focus on chasing the more exclusive market for trendy hotels.

Tom Wright, the chief executive of tourist authority VisitBritain, said the city was doing well by attracting the bucket and spade brigade as well as the posh pound.

Mr Wright, speaking at the launch of British Tourism Week which runs until Friday, said: "Brighton has got a strong global reputation for a number of different markets overseas.

"It has this combination of modern and contemporary appeal as well as some traditional aspects.

"It blends those two relatively well and appeals to the youth and other sectors around the world."

He was backed by Hove MP Celia Barlow, who said: "Brighton is one of the oldest seaside resorts in the country and some of its charms are the pier and the beaches - and even the sticks of rock.

"The traditional appeal is very important.

"We do have to be careful not to lose sight of old-fashioned values as well as the old buildings."

Ms Barlow warned the city also had to be forward looking and this meant updating its conference facilities for the 21st century - or risk losing "billions of pounds" of investment.

Adam Bates, the head of tourism at Brighton and Hove City Council, said: "It's difficult to hark back to traditional markets when those don't exist.

"People simply don't take two-week bucket and spade holidays any more.

"We have got to continue to find ways of adapting and Brighton and Hove has been pretty good at that."

VisitBritain said more work was needed to improve the welcome offered to overseas visitors, who generally entered the UK through airports like Gatwick.

This included ensuring the cost of visas, required by visitors from 60 countries around the world including India and China, were at a competitive level.

Visas to the UK cost £63 per person - more than double the average fee charged by most EU countries.

Stephen Dowd, the chairman of UK Tourism Week and chief executive of trade association UKinbound, said overall travel costs, which also included air passenger duty and the expense of meeting new requirements for biometric data, could threaten the "renaissance" of seaside resorts like Brighton.

He said: "The cost of choosing the UK now is starting to become prohibitive and is deterring people from coming here.

"Those who do come here have to be careful how they spend their money and may well curtail their activities, which may have included day trips to Brighton or other parts of Sussex."