Popular peak re-opens to walkers

The Brecon Beacons attract thousands of visitors

Wales's beleagured tourism industry has been helped by the re-opening of the highest peak in mid Wales.

Pen-y-Fan is one of the most important and popular peaks in the UK for walkers and the lifting of foot-and-mouth restrictions in time for the summer season will benefit the considerably.

Sue Essex: Re-opened footpaths

Many businesses in the Brecon area are reliant on the thousands of visitors who spend millions of pounds each year in shops and guesthouses.

At the height of the foot-and-mouth crisis, the Wales Tourist Board estimated that £20m was being lost to the economy each week.

Welsh Assembly Environment Minister Sue Essex attended the re-opening ceremony with Christopher Gledhill, the chief executive of the Brecon Beacons National Park.

Ms Essex praised the role of the national parks in Wales in helping rural areas recover from the effects of foot-and-mouth.

The re-opening of almost 2,000 miles of footpaths in Powys - which has the highest concentration of foot-and-mouth cases in Wales - has been criticised in some quarters.

Farmers who are conscious of the need for vigilance against the disease are concerned by an influx of tourists.

Walkers are returning to the countryside

But Powys council's rights-of-way committee decided that all paths outside infected areas could re-open again from 23 June.

Access to central areas of the Brecon National Park, including Pen-y-Fan, and Llangorse Common, has been welcomed by the tourist industry, which has seen bookings badly hit.

The re-opening of key routes on Snowdon in time for the May Bank Holiday helped attract back walkers in encouraging numbers.

Walkers have slowly been returning to many areas of Wales, but some restrictions have remained in place relating to footpaths and dog walking.