Foot-and-mouth keeping tourists away from Britain

A senior British government minister, Chris Smith, has acknowledged that the tourist industry in Britain is being badly hit by concerns over foot and mouth disease.

In an interview with the BBC, he said that a number of potential foreign visitors were cancelling trips or not booking at all, and the government wanted to get the message across that Britain was as he put it still open for business.

But the chairman of the world's biggest travel agents' association, Richard Copeland of the American Society of Travel Agents, said the British government had not contacted his group.

He said a public relations campaign was needed to correct misconceptions about foot and mouth, a generally non-fatal livestock disease that is extremely rare in humans.

It's estimated that British tourism is losing one hundred and fifty million dollars a week.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service