Rural tourism hope returns (From Western Telegraph)

Rural tourism hope returns

Stability and confidence are slowly returning to Pembrokeshires tourism market.

Optimism for the summer season ending on a high note follows last months decision to re-open the countys public rights of way.

Rural accommodation, in particular farmhouse bed-and-breakfast, has been hit badly by the foot and mouth crisis.

But telephones started to ring again when the re-opening of the countryside hit the national news. The disease outbreak at Brecon has also drawn extra visitors to the Pembrokeshire countryside.

Selina Mathias has been welcoming bed-and-breakfast guests to the familys South Pembrokeshire dairy farm for 15 years. Before the footpaths and bridleways were re-opened, she had just one reservation for August.

Her bookings in April were down by 77%. The turning point came last week and inquiries have steadily risen since.

She admits the family has been torn between encouraging visitors onto the farm because of the foot and mouth risk. The farm has to come first, but last year it was the bed-and-breakfast which paid the bills, said Mrs Mathias, of Bangeston Farm, St Petrox.

Her experiences are shared by landowners and tenants across the county. As farm incomes have fallen, more have turned to the tourism sector to boost cash flows. While they welcome a return to near normality, they urge caution. Virginia Lort-Phillips, whose family has both farming and bed-and-breakfast businesses at Lawrenny, said farmers are still nervous. There is still a degree of uncertainty but we have got to be realistic.

We have got to respect the fact that others have a livelihood to make. They have given farmers a fair crack of the whip and it is time for us to pay them back.