IN the week the Government admitted mistakes in its handling of foot and mouth, a Ryedale tourism leader says the hard effects of loss of tourist trade are only now beginning to bite.

Steve Jaques, of the Ryedale Tourism Association, said that the impact of the downturn in the tourism industry would only really start show this winter.

"Farmers and people in the tourism industry have had a poor summer and they will really now be starting to feel the effects. Our main problem was that people were told not to go into the countryside whether there was foot and mouth or not."

Pressed hard by Ryedale MP John Greenway in a debate in Parliament, tourism minister Kim Howells admitted mistakes had been made in the way the Government handled tourism and the foot and mouth outbreak. The tourism industry suffered because the Government made mistakes in how it handled foot and mouth.

Mr Greenway told the House of Commons: "We had only one foot and mouth case, in the north-west of the constituency. However, the impact on tourism has been devastating because most of the tourism in Ryedale is rural."

Money given to help was not as much as had been hoped for. "Back in the spring it was mooted that the Government were considering making an additional £50m available. In the end only £18m was provided."

It was, he said, nonsensical that the Government had not so far allowed the English Tourist Board to play a marketing role. Moreover, funding for regions was haphazard and inconsistent. Money had been made available for Scotland and Wales and "this leads to the conclusion that when it comes to Government funding for tourism, England is the poor relation".

Mr Greenway added people had asked him why the Government could find £20m to keep open an empty Dome, but could not make additional resources available to support tourism in England.

In response, Mr Howells said he would argue about sums of money being made available and arrangements in place to support tourism in Britain. But he added: "I will shock most of my colleagues by saying that I agree with much of the criticism."

Mr Jaques, of the Ryedale Tourism Association, said: "We knew they had got it wrong, right from the start. The tourist board has tried to do its bit and Ryedale District Council has tried to do its bit. Ryedale got a £15,000 grant towards its 'What's on' guide. But it's a small thing, and it's peanuts compared to the revenue that has been lost."

He added: "People lost confidence. Now we are all working together to try to get the best we can for the area."

Updated: 09:11 Thursday, November 22, 2001