The three billion dollar 'boycott'

Scenes like these have put American tourists off Britain

American tourists are staying away from Britain in droves because of the foot-and-mouth crisis, leading to an estimated $3bn loss in trade by Easter.

Images of burning pyres of livestock have created the image that the UK is closed for business.

All you see is the burning of animals, the digging of trenches...it gives a wrong perception

Richard Copeland, American Society of Travel Agents

Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision to postpone the general election will have done little to reassure people.

A rare appearance on US television urging Americans not to cancel their holidays is also unlikely to allayed tourists fears.

Americans account for about one fifth of all the tourist money spent in the UK, and last year four million Americans visited the country.

This year had been looking as if it would be a record one. But Britain's beleaguered rural tourist industry is losing a $150m a week, and it is bracing itself for worse to come.

'Killing fields'

Many holidaymakers have had second thoughts after US news reports which have likened the disease, in the words of CBS anchorman Dan Rather, "to a new Battle of Britain, which has turned grazing fields into killing fields".

Grim pictures have played out on news programmes across the globe

Linda Maxwell, a travel agent in Maryland, said she had seen a downturn in business in recent weeks.

"We thought this was something that was going to be under control and done away with," she said, "and now it seems to be getting worse rather than better."

She added: "I have had couples who were planning to make a trip and ready to make a deposit and they're backing off now because they're afraid they won't be able to see and do what they wanted to."

'Wrong messages'

One of the most popular UK tourist spots for Americans and other overseas visitors is the Lake District in northern England, home to Victorian poet William Wordsworth.

Despite restrictions, tourist chiefs say most of the countryside is open

"We are already having a fall of about one third to perhaps a quarter," said director of the Wordsworth Trust, Robert Woolf.

He went on: "When you do well is because the bookings were made last November, so our concern is really not only that we're down already, but that the overseas visitors are getting the wrong messages."

Tour operators are trying to reassure visitors that, while some country walks are limited, most museums and attractions are open.

But on the streets of New York, there is certainly confusion, and some apprehension.

'Mad cow' fears

"I wouldn't be afraid of foot-and-mouth, because my understanding is it only affects animals. But mad cow disease, that's something else," said one New Yorker.

Another said: "My vacation this year is going to be in the States. The whole of Europe is contaminated because of the virus in the cows and the rest of the animals."

Richard Copeland, of the American Society of travel agents, said the British authorities would have to work harder to get their message across.

"Basically all we're getting in the US is the media's stance on what happening," he said.

"All you see is the burning of animals, the digging of trenches and people being stopped and it gives a wrong perception."