Cotswold tourism future looks brighter (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Cotswold tourism future looks brighter

STOW-on-the-Wold's and Bourton-on-the-Water's beleaguered tourist industry is set for a good 2004, despite unfavourable exchange rates and increased security checks at American airports.

Staff at Stow and Bourton's visitor information centres gave this optimistic prediction after four years in which the industry has suffered a series of setbacks resulting in falling tourist numbers.

The foot and mouth epidemic in 2000 and 2001's September 11 terrorist attacks are among incidents that have deterred tourists from America, Japan and other countries from visiting.

Now there are concerns that American airports' increased security checks and the dollar's weakness against the pound will further deter foreigners from visiting the picturesque area where traders depend on tourists for much of their business.

Stow's 17-year-old Visitor Information Centre, used by a record 200,000 people in 1996/97, now attracts 100,000-150,000 annually.

But Veronica Woodford, senior assistant at the centre, said: "Things were certainly picking up in the back quarter of 2003, which leads us to hope we're going to get a better 2004.

"Listening to the interviews on television, people are getting much more confident about flying.

"Visitor numbers reached a peak in the mid-to-late 1990s.

"We haven't yet gone back to that peak with all the events from 2000 onwards.

"The economy at the moment is a real bind.

"Because of the weakness of the dollar against the pound a lot of people simply can't afford to travel: the Americans, Japanese, South Africans and Australians.

"We're hoping the UK market will help us get back to better figures. We're certainly optimistic. Tourism is a growth industry."

Bourton's visitor information centre opened in 2000 and attracts an average of 75,000-85,000 people annually.

Jackie Faulkner, information assistant at the centre, said fewer Americans were visiting, although many Japanese tourists were still coming.

She said: "Reading recently in the newspapers how poorly the dollar is doing against the pound affects how many American visitors we get.

"We do miss the Americans but it's beginning to pick up a bit.

"Whether new security measures they're going to put on airlines will deter people coming we'll have to wait and see."