British tourism set to lose £2.5bn
Britain’s tourism industry stands to lose around £2.5bn this year as a result of the terrorist attacks in the US and the effects of the foot-and-mouth outbreak, tourism chiefs said today.
Spending by overseas visitors in Britain, originally forecast at more than £13bn for 2001, was now likely to be around £10.8bn, the British Tourism Authority (BTA) warned.
David Quarmby, chairman of the BTA, said: ‘‘The tourism industry is facing an unprecedented situation - a drop of nearly 20%.
‘‘It’s been something of a double whammy year for tourism. It’s the cumulative effect of the foot-and-mouth outbreak since March and the terrorism attacks in recent weeks.’’
He said the situation could worsen if military strikes were launched and predicted 75,000 jobs could be at risk because of the situation.
Mr Quarmby added that London was the worst affected area, although York, Stratford, Oxford, Edinburgh, Cambridge, Chester and Bath had also been badly hit.
