I find the article regarding the £3,500 spent on a four-day trip to Geneva (February 7) incorrect, unfair and, perhaps most worrying of all, potentially severely damaging to the economy of Brighton and Hove.

I organised the Britain pavilion at this exhibition, am a Brighton resident and feel The Argus should get behind Brighton Tourism's endeavours to win more business for the city.

More than two-thirds of the amount spent by Brighton and Hove, as quoted, was on hiring space on the pavilion at the exhibition.

These are up-front costs charged by the exhibition organisers and are not negotiable. They must be committed to if you are to stand any chance of selling the city to international event organisers.

But, if you get just one piece of business as a result, the cost of participation is paid for many times over.

Of all the tourism that comes into this country, the largest proportion (by spend) is in business tourism, at 32 per cent compared to 29 per cent for leisure.

Every business traveller the city gets will spend three times as much as a leisure visitor?

By not spending its money targeting business tourism, Brighton and Hove would be shooting itself in the foot because this is exactly the sort of business that will help the city flourish and bring employment and further regeneration.

The benefits cascade very far indeed. The local post office, the pub, the theatres - all benefit from the marketing work which the staff in Brighton Tourism do to bring business events to the city.

If it does not attend and exhibit at events such as the one in Geneva, these benefits will not come to this city - they will go to any one of two dozen other cities in the UK or Europe.

The Argus and individual councillors should be 100 per cent behind the people who are trying to make sure Brighton and Hove succeeds.

As a resident, I want to see value for money in the council tax I pay. I am confident that the staff of Brighton Tourism are delivering just that.

-Adam Bates, Head of Business Tourism, British Tourist Authority