TWO conflicting statistics have revealed how businessmen and women are displacing traditional holidaymakers as customers for York's tourism industry.

Room occupancy figures in hotels and guest houses for the period January to March were better than for any other corresponding period in the 1990s.

But bed occupancy levels for the same three months were worse than for almost any year between 1993 and 1999.

The York Hospitality Association says the figures appear to provide further evidence of a trend towards business visitors rather than holiday tourism.

Spokesman Michael Hjort said business visitors, attending conferences, meetings or social get-togethers, tended to be single-occupancy, while the traditional holidaymakers tended to be families seeking multiple-occupancy rooms.

He said the trend might tend to benefit the big hotels rather than the smaller guest houses and bed and breakfasts.

This could reflect the increase in recent years in the number of big hotels in York and the corresponding closure of a number of guest houses.

Gillian Cruddas, chief executive of York Tourism Bureau, said business visits to the city - for conferences, exhibitions or a meeting of a local company - had been more buoyant than the leisure side.

Although business visitors tended to stay in hotels, some did stay in guest houses. They tended to spend more, for example, on eating out.

She added that if the city made a good impression on such visitors, there could be a spin-off benefit if they returned to York at a later date with their families or friends for a holiday.

The latest figures come as the English Tourism Council reported that tourism was continuing to recover from the combined effects of last year's foot and mouth epidemic and the September 11 terrorist attacks, but that the recovery remained fragile.

The latest tourism figures for UK residents taking holiday trips in England between January and May show an increase in trips, up by 15 per cent on the same period last year. Spending was up by 21 per cent. However, the council said the increase only put spending back on the level of 2000.

Updated: 11:52 Tuesday, September 10, 2002