Tourist industry seeks financial support over foot-and-mouth

The tourism and hospitality industry is looking to the Government for urgent financial support and clearer guidelines for holidaymakers as the foot-and-mouth crisis continues. Prime Minister Tony Blair is to make a statement later today outlining measures to support the rural economy.Task force: This follows the creation earlier this week of a Rural Task Force headed by environment minister Michael Meacher to look at the impact of the crisis on businesses. It delivered a report to Blair this morning following a whistle-stop round of meetings with representatives from affected industries. The three key issues considered by the task force were: which parts of the countryside are safely accessible; how can confidence in tourism be restored; and what sort of short-term support could be provided to the rural economy. The task force, which includes representatives of the rural tourist industry, hoteliers, small businesses and farmers as well as government ministers, is due to meet again early next weekHelpline: One practical measure proposed is the setting up of a national helpline giving the public up to the minute information on which areas of the country are still accessible.Financial support: Bob Cotton, chief executive of the British Hospitality Association and a member of the task force, said that, as well as a clearer information on where tourists could and could not go, the industry was looking for urgent financial support and clarification from MAFF vets of guidelines on preventing the spread of the disease. Cotton said that in the short term the British Tourist Authority should be given £5m million now and a further £5m later to get the message to overseas tourists that Britain was safe to visit.Information: After the first task force meeting Meacher said: "We took a hard look at the advice available to people wanting to go out and about in the country. The key to enjoying the countryside must be to get as much up-to-date information as possible." But he warned that restrictions on movement would continue for months.Fact-finding: Blair and other government ministers this week went on fact-finding visits to the worst affected areas in Devon and Cumbria to hear first-hand the problems foot-and-mouth is causing the rural economy.Cumbria: The Prime Minister went to Cumbria, where he met Peter Sloyan, chief executive of the Northumbria Tourist Board. Sloyan said the Prime Minister was sympathetic to the tourist industry's problems and wanted to know what the government could do to reduce the impact of the crisis, both immediately and in the longer term. Sloyan put forward three proposals: pressure should be applied by the government to clearing banks and local authorities to act reasonably on loans and business rates; restrictions should be lifted in areas unaffected by foot-and-mouth; funding should be provided to national and regional tourist authorities to rebuild confidence among tourists at home and abroadSouth-west: Tourism minister Janet Anderson went to Ashburton in the south-west of England for a meeting with local representatives of the tourism, farming and business communities. Adam Southwell, director of the Dartmoor Tourist Association and owner of a Dartmoor hotel closed by the outbreak, was at the meeting. He said that while sympathetic, the minister could not offer direct financial support from central government for hard-hit businesses.VAT: Southwell was hopeful that government measures would include a range of indirect financial support for rural businesses, such as deferment of VAT, National Insurance and business rates.Dartmoor: Southwell said that the Dartmoor tourist trade was being hit hard because people were voluntarily staying away. "The road across Dartmoor isn't actually closed, but people are being discouraged from driving across," he said. "The tourists are staying away so everyone is closing down."