Epidemic will mean five years of woe, says BTA

THE INDUSTRY stands to lose £2 billion by the end of this month as a result of the foot and mouth crisis and could take five years to recover from the impact.

British Tourist Authority chairman David Quarmby said the crisis had done lasting damage to the incoming market.

He said: “We are seeing widespread cancellations of UK holidays and some operators have dropped their programmes altogether. It took five years for the US market to come back after the Gulf War and we expect this crisis will take the same amount of time to recover.”