Tourism faces crunch weekend

Parts of Dartmoor are re-opening

The UK tourism industry faces a crucial May bank holiday weekend as it attempts to claw back business hard hit by the foot-and-mouth crisis.

Agriculture Minister Nick Brown is urging local authorities to re-open footpaths in areas where there have been no foot-and-mouth cases.

His call comes the day after the prime minister declared that the battle against the disease was in the "home straight", clearing the way for an expected general election on 7 June.

Foot-and-mouth facts

Total number of confirmed foot-and-mouth cases in the UK 1,547 - 9 on Thursday

2,411,000 animals have been slaughtered

107,000 animals awaiting slaughter

But as many as 250,000 tourism jobs are still at risk because of the outbreak, according to the English Tourism Council (ETC).

With ministers anxious to see the countryside start returning to normal, Mr Brown said councils should, where possible, consider allowing walkers back on to paths which are currently closed.

"These decisions have to be made on a case-by-case basis, but where whole counties haven't had a single case I think they should look very hard at re-opening the footpaths," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Continued vigilance

"We want to keep people away from farms and livestock, but I cannot believe it is necessary to keep all the footpaths closed in a county that hasn't had a single outbreak of the disease."

While Mr Brown insisted the disease was being brought under control, he acknowledged there was still an area of "intense infectivity" in Cumbria and stressed there was no room for complacency.

Blair: "Disease fight almost over"

Coastal paths in Devon are being reopened, as is a small part of the Dartmoor National Park.

And walkers can once again climb Snowdon, as four paths to the summit reopened on Friday for the first time since the foot-and-mouth outbreak began - although much of the range remains closed and visitors will have to abide by tight restrictions.

However in Lincolnshire all 4,000 footpaths are still closed.

Cash plea

The Cumbrian Tourist Authority has warned that if businesses do not receive financial help they will go bankrupt.

And the ETC has said that without special aid, English tourism overall is likely to lose £5bn this year, £2.5bn next year and £1bn in 2003.

It has urged the government to do more to rescue the struggling industry.

ETC spokesman Ken Kelling said many rural businesses were still down on bookings.

Walkers in Snowdonia will have to disinfect their boots

"It is too early to say the problems are over because people are still not going back to the countryside and we expect that pattern to continue until the last infected area is given the all clear - and who knows when that may be?"

Elliott Frisby, spokesman for the British Tourist Authority, said: "Tony Blair's announcement that the crisis is over focuses on the disease rather than the tourism industry because getting back to normal could take years."

Coastal towns are expected to do well over the weekend.

This may be further boosted by a survey by the Marine Conservation Society published on Friday, showing that 275 beaches in the UK have reached the highest European water quality standards.