Craven begins to get back to normal as visitors return

While Skipton was busy, in the Dales visitor numbers were below what might have been expected before the foot and mouth crisis.

Many hotels and guest houses - which would normally have been booked-up on one of their busiest weekends of the year - stood empty despite the lifting of restrictions on some footpaths.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority reported a quiet Bank Holiday weekend despite the best weather of the year.

The number of visitors through its seven national park centres were down on average by 35 per cent when compared with the same Bank Holiday last year.

Another worrying trend was that over the whole weekend the centres did not take a single booking for accommodation. Normally this figure would be closer to 35.

But there was a different story from the newly re-opened Skipton Tourist Information Centre. At the TIC's newly opened premises in Coach Street, 473 people called in on Saturday, 192 on Sunday and 362 on Monday.

Manager Sue Swales said: "We were very busy. We had lots of visitors coming in and asking what was open and what they could do."

Her colleague Heidi Phillip said a few tourists visited the centre to book accommodation, with several B&Bs and hotels fully booked in Skipton.

Raymond Davis, owner of the Highfield Hotel on Keighley Road, said it had been a busy Bank Holiday. The hotel had been been fully booked, and had to turn people away.

However, Derek Church, owner of the Skipton Park Guestotel in Salisbury Street, said business had been down. "Even though there were a lot of people in town they were not staying overnight," he said.

Elaine Glover, part-owner of the Corncrake Hotel in Cracoe, said the lifting of the footpath restrictions could not come soon enough.

"When people come here it's a walking break they want," she said. "We rely on passing trade and have no guests at all at the moment."

But there was more optimism in Ingleton. Although Saturday was very quiet, there was a surge of interest at the Tourist Information Centre on Sunday when more than 300 inquiries were dealt with.

On Monday some shops reported better trade than expected but the guesthouses were by no means full.

Grassington reported a busy time following the reopening of Grass Woods and the Snake Walk to the tin bridge at Linton Falls. In Bolton Abbey, the famous stepping stones across the river Wharfe were reopened.

David Butterworth, chief executive of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, said: "Over the weekend we have seen visitors acting responsibly, using the footpaths and bridleways that have been opened, whilst avoiding those that remain closed.

"However, with many of the area's towns and villages appearing busy, our figures paint a picture of an area only slowly returning to normality. It would appear that the visiting public is yet to have the confidence to stay any length of time and to book into the area's many bed and breakfasts, guesthouses and hotels.

"We will continue to tell the public that the national park is open, and with every day that passes there is more and more for them to do."

The authority will continue to look at the possibility of opening further rights of way.

Meanwhile Craven is to get £33,000 of the Government's £3.8million Rights of Way Recovery fund to help reopen footpaths. The money is to help pay for the extra work and staff needed to re-open the routes.

Pam Warhurst, Countryside Agency deputy chairman, said: "The fund can be used to free up more staff to work on assessing whether particular rights of way are safe to reopen and keeping the public informed with detailed maps and signage about where it is safe to walk."

Yorkshire Dales National Park press officer, Andrew Osborne, said the footpath risk assessment was very detailed and paths could only be opened if they met certain criteria.

He said: "We have to make sure that routes that are opened are well signed so people don't cross into areas that are not safe to walk in."