TERRORISTS set out to destroy lives and our way of life. They hope the after effects of their bomb attacks will be felt long after the funerals are over.

The British economy is as much of a target as those who travel on the Tube.

So it was heartening to see the notoriously jittery London Stock Exchange remain resilient in the face of the blasts.

In York, the tourism industry is now braced for the post-bomb backlash. This city has long been on the main London to Edinburgh route for American visitors. Anything that discourages high-spending US citizens from travelling to Britain has an impact here.

But our reliance on the tourist dollar is not what it was. The first Gulf War and September 11 saw to that.

In the 1990s, almost half of York's overseas visitors came from the USA. By 2002, that figure had slumped to a quarter.

Since then, the city's tourism chiefs have worked on a strategy to encourage more trade from Europe and from elsewhere in Britain, and that diversification will stand us in good stead today.

There is also evidence that travellers are less easily cowed. Tourist trade picked up more quickly than expected after the second Iraq conflict.

Last month, York made a lot of new friends during Royal Ascot.

We should remain confident that the positive influence of that terrific event will prove more enduring than our present state of uncertainty.

Updated: 10:41 Tuesday, July 26, 2005