VISITOR attractions across York have reported a massive increase in business this week, as people flock to the city for the half-term holiday.

A spokeswoman for the Jorvik Centre in Coppergate said that the attraction had been "incredibly busy" since last Saturday.

She said: "The queues are very long and are stretching down to Fenwick's."

The centre, which operates an advance booking service, has taken advantage of the half-term period to put on special events during the week, from designing a Viking tunic to costume displays.

Helen Douglas, manager of York Dungeon, in Clifford Street, reported an equally dramatic surge in numbers, and for the rest of this week will open at 10am, rather than its usual 10.30am, to cope with the increased demand.

She said: "We have not seen queues this long for about three years - they are three-quarters of the way down the street - it's extremely, extremely busy.

"We are having a great week."

Tourist attractions were not the only ones benefiting from the massive visitor influx.

Jez Willard, managing director of The Japanese Shop, in Coppergate, said that his figures for the week had soared.

He said: "It's picked up incredibly this week - our figures have doubled from last week."

Gillian Cruddas, chief executive of York Tourism Bureau, said: "York is exceptionally busy, the good weather makes conditions ideal for a short break, and this half term week is traditionally one of the busiest weeks of the tourism calendar. Accommodation bookings are excellent and the phones at the city's tourist information centres have not stopped ringing.

"The market in Parliament Street is proving particularly popular and all of the city's visitor attractions are reporting an increase in trade."

But the fine weather has also brought heavy traffic, peaking yesterday with three of the city's four Park&Ride car parks full by 11am, and only 160 car park spaces available out of a total of 4,800 in the city itself.

Yesterday evening, drivers leaving York on the A1036 Malton Road were stuck in a mile and a half tailback from 5pm to 6.30pm.

Peter Evely, the council's head of network management, said that roads coming into York had been exceptionally busy during the week, with extensive queuing on the A59.

Updated: 10:54 Thursday, October 30, 2003