Global tourist chiefs to visit rural Britain

Tourists arrive to visit the West Midlands Safari Park

International travel leaders are to visit the British countryside as new estimates predict foot-and-mouth disease will wipe £5bn off the tourist industry.

The British Tourist Authority has called a four-day travel summit in a bid to dispel myths about the disease's impact on the countryside.

Forty representatives from tourist groups across the world are expected to take part.

By welcoming these key opinion-formers this week, we will be able to influence many thousands of their customers and commercial partners

David Quarmby
British Tourist Authority chairman

The announcement comes as the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) calculates that some £5bn will be lost from the £61bn tourist industry due to the disease.

However, losses this Easter have reportedly not been as severe as expected with shopping centres and seaside and non-rural attractions enjoying a flurry of bookings.

The CEBR predicts Easter losses will be greater than 10%.

The English Tourism Council said some rural businesses were operating at 20% of their normal Easter rate.

Severe movement restrictions in the New Forest have seen firms reporting between 20% and 80% losses while Dartmoor and Exmoor are losing some 50% of normal visitor numbers.

Police control crowds in Cornwall

But the chief executive of South West Tourism, Malcolm Bell, said business was between 90% and 95% its normal level.

Traffic jams have been reported around Torquay, Bodmin Moor and Stonehenge while the newly-opened Eden Project in Cornwall has been so busy that extra police have been called in to handle the crowds.

Leeds Castle in Kent had double the predicted audience on Good Friday and the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu had visitor numbers up by half on last year.

The Cumbrian Lake District, in the county worst affected by the disease, has reported a "moderately busy" Easter, according to David Hewkin, the manager of Windermere Tourist Information Centre.

Recently re-opened Stonehenge is busy

Further good news in badly affected areas came from Keswick, in Cumbria, where guesthouses have been turning people away while city break bookings in Durham were up 64% on last year.

The seaside towns of Bournemouth and Brighton are reporting good business following a "disastrous" spring season.

And north of the border, Scottish Tourist Board spokesman Graham Birse said rural areas were suffering but visitor numbers appeared to be holding at castles, museums, and outdoor centres.

He hoped a possible Scottish golfing holiday by Sir Sean Connery would encourage Americans to follow.

International summit

Meanwhile, international delegates are about to begin a whistle-stop tour of UK attractions.

Representatives from the United States, Canada and Japan are to visit Scotland and Cumbria in a private jet provided by British Airways while those from European nations will go to north Wales, Dartmoor and Cornwall.

The two groups will meet in London on 20 April to visit 10 Downing Street and Windsor Castle.

Movement restrictions hit New Forest visitor numbers

British Tourist Authority chairman David Quarmby said he hoped the summit would counteract misconceptions about foot-and-mouth and safeguard the £13bn in-bound tourism industry.

"By welcoming these key opinion-formers this week, we will be able to influence many thousands of their customers and commercial partners," he said.

"We will also be working with them on their return home so that we can continue to generate interest in Britain as a destination."

An English Tourism Council survey found more than two-thirds (69%) of people surveyed believe you cannot walk in the countryside because of foot-and-mouth while more than half (52%) believe you cannot enjoy the countryside because of burning pyres.