Tourist season in the balance (From Barry And District News)

Tourist season in the balance

PEMBROKESHIRE'S £272 million tourism industry today (Wednesday) begins its final push to win back trade lost to the foot and mouth epidemic.

On this first official day of the school summer break, the countys biggest industry is relying on a £300,000 marketing campaign to draw visitors. Tourism businesses know the next six weeks are crucial if they are to salvage the trade lost earlier in the year.

July and August will be the months to make or break some businesses. Twenty-one per cent of the Pembrokeshire workforce is employed in the tourism sector - equivalent to one in five jobs.

The inland areas of north and mid Pembrokeshire, reliant on income from walkers, have suffered the greatest financial loss. A gradual upturn followed a re-opening of the countys public rights of way network. Alan Turner, tourism marketing and development manager at Pembrokeshire County Council, admits it has been a lean season which could end on a high note. It probably wont be a bumper season but it wont be a disaster, he says.

Latest figures show 129,545 inquiries to the councils eight tourist information centres compared to 112,558 in the same period last year. The traditional coastal resorts of Tenby and Saundersfoot appear to have lost out the least. We have been very fortunate because, when much of the countryside was closed, people headed for the coast, said Chris Osbourne, director of the Pembrokeshire Hotels and Restaurants Association. It hasnt been a brilliant season but it hasnt been bad. Although the Spanish bus drivers strike and long airport delays have marred foreign holidays, Mr Osbourne thinks it will take a lot more to convince Brits to holiday at home.

People are coming to Pembrokeshire for shorter periods. It is no longer their main or even second holiday, they come here for leisure breaks, he said.

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