UK tourism battles credit crunch and prays for sun

By Paul Majendie

HEVER CASTLE, England (Reuters Life!) - On a sun-kissed Sunday afternoon, the tourists poured into the childhood home of Henry VIII's ill-fated wife Ann Boleyn.

Receipts at Hever Castle are up this year and, as long as the rain holds off, they could be in for a good summer as the British carefully count their dwindling pounds in the economic downturn.

"The spend per head is good. If the sun shines, people are desperate to get out," said Ann Watt, spokeswoman at the historic castle where Ann Boleyn first met the Tudor King. Henry eventually spurned Anne and she was executed.

"We have also seen a big increase in the German market," Watt said. "But everything does hinge on the weather."

That cautiously optimistic message is echoed across Britain's 85 billion pound ($166.7 billion) tourist industry which employs 2.1 million people.

With fuel and energy costs soaring and house prices plummeting, stay-at-home tourism could enjoy a seasonal boost.

"British people may be more likely to look at the option of a British domestic holiday. That is what we are hearing from the industry," said Elliott Frisby from Visit Britain, the national tourist agency. "The potential is there with the credit crunch."

But attracting visitors from abroad could be an uphill climb.