Lord Gordon will maintain his interest in SRH

Figures published last year showed the number of foreign visitors coming to Scotland fell by 11% in 1999.

This prompted the then enterprise minister Henry McLeish to commission an independent review of the STB by PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

The PWC report, which was published in November, recommended a radical shake-up of the board, a cut in the number of directors and a change of name to 'visitscotland'.

It severely criticised the STB, saying there was "confusion and ambiguity" among senior management.

The criticism proved too much for chief executive Tom Buncle and he resigned days after the report was made public.

No second term

His decision to quit was followed weeks later by Lord Jimmy Gordon's decision not to seek a second term as chairman.

Former civil servant Peter McKinlay is currently serving as the interim chief executive of the STB while the search for Mr Buncle's replacement is on-going.

The decision to appoint Lord Gordon's successor will be taken by enterprise minister, Wendy Alexander.

Lord Gordon said he plans to continue as a non-executive of Scottish Radio Holdings.

He also said that he still wants to "write two books" and would like to see an emigration museum in Scotland to enable expatriates to trace their roots.