A tourism leader in Cumbria has criticised the latest inquiry into the foot-and-mouth crisis.

Chris Collier, chief executive of the Cumbria Tourist Board, said the Anderson Inquiry into last year's epidemic made a serious omission.

She said while the government's third and final inquiry into the epidemic contained much to commend it, the importance of the tourist industry has been underestimated.

Visitor numbers to the Lake District and the surrounding area plummeted during the foot-and-mouth outbreak in 2001.

Chris Collier: "Devastaing effect"

The Lessons To Be Learned report, published on Monday, outlined the need for a new "national strategy" to help contain any future animal health outbreak.

But Ms Collier told BBC Radio Cumbria the needs of the tourist industry had not been fully considered.

She said tourism in Cumbria was hit like a "tap being turned off" when foot-and-mouth disease struck the county, made worse by announcements telling people not to travel to the area.

Ms Collier said: "The report stated that the contribution of the tourist economy in Cumbria is 6% of gross domestic product - the reality is more than three times that," she said.

"It is 18% of GDP and 25% of all jobs.

"I think had they fully understood that and fully grasped the implication on tourism, they would have been much clearer about how tourism has a voice in any future outbreak.

"At the moment that bit is missing from the report."