Party fever is struck by millennium fatigue

A growing epidemic of millennium fatigue could put the damper on hotels' and restaurants' party plans for the new year, several surveys conclude.

Sixty per cent of people will celebrate at home, 40% with their families and 26% with close friends, according to Mintel. A Deloitte & Touche survey similarly found that 41% planned a quiet event at home or with relatives and 22% intended to throw their own parties.

Mintel detected a steep rise in the numbers who felt that the millennium was "a lot of fuss about nothing", up by 24 percentage points on last year to 55%. Ramped-up charges were seen as a major deterrent. More than one-quarter of people surveyed by Mintel thought that the event was being over-exploited and 58% of Co-op respondents expected the costs of partying out to be too high.

The Scots emerged as the biggest stay-at-homes and Londoners as the most likely to be out. And, despite its optimism that London's millennium attractions will prove "a big draw for overseas visitors", the London Tourist Board has reduced its forecasts for visitor numbers in 2000 from 30 million to 27 million.

This follows a fall in visitor numbers in 1998 to 25.1 million after 1997's strong growth to 28.1 million. This was fuelled by an unusual surge in domestic visitors to 14.6 million, which dropped to 11.6 million last year.

by Angela Frewin