Blair’s yellow suit ‘damaging for tourism’

BRITAIN’S tourism industry was damaged by the Government’s failure to manage media images of the foot-and-mouth crisis, it was claimed yesterday.

A picture of Prime Minister Tony Blair in a protective yellow suit on a visit to a mass burial pit was especially unhelpful, a South West Tourism spokesman said.

Simon Bradley said: “It was a very negative image, particularly overseas.

“The audience took its news mainly from pretty powerful images, such as burning carcasses and prime ministers in yellow suits,” Mr Bradley said.

“I think it all contributed to some perception that it was best for some visitors to stay away,” he said.

“We had instances of visitors saying to us ‘Should we burn all our clothes’. That is an illustration of how much confusion there was in the market place.

“We were calling for the pyres of burning animals to be screened because they made very potent images and overseas they weren’t getting the whole story.

“I think more thought could have been given to the implications on Britain overseas, both in terms of tourism and on farming exports,” he said.

A British Tourism Council spokeswoman said the crisis had cost the country £1.3 billion in lost revenues.

She said images of burning animals were particularly damaging, alongside newspaper headlines such as “Leper Nation”.

The image of Mr Blair had been taken on a visit to a mass burial pit in Birkshaw Forest in Scotland.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said claims that it had cost the country £1 billion were a “gross simplification” of the facts.

She said: “Pictures were being transmitted all over the world of burning pyres, mass graves and affected cattle and so on.

“The Anderson Report (into the handling of the foot-and-mouth outbreak) recognised how important it was that the Prime Minister should have taken control of the Government’s

response, and be seen to have taken control, and be seeing the consequences for himself.”

Shadow culture secretary John Whittingdale said the picture of Mr Blair in the yellow suit had been an “unnecessary stunt” which did “huge damage” to the UK tourist industry.

Mr Whittingdale said: “The foot-and-mouth outbreak was devastating for the whole UK economy and particularly for the tourism and rural sectors.

“Worse still is the fact that a piece of Downing Street spin helped to make it much more damaging by frightening off tens of thousands of potential visitors from abroad,” he said.