MORECAMBE, Lancaster and the Lune Valley all enjoyed an unprecedented start to the new tourist season.

A combination of fine weather and a late Easter merging into the May Day weekend has helped create the good start.

The whole of April proved to be consistently popular in Lancaster where the Tourist Information Centre finished 10 per cent up on visitor numbers compared with April 1999.

The Easter Maritime Festival in Lancaster was the busiest ever as tourists flocked to watch sea shanty singers, Punch and Judy shows, maritime talks and walks, ships in bottles, demos and humorous interpretations of Treasure Island and the Battle of Trafalgar.

Cllr June Ashworth, tourism chairman, spent much of the weekend on Morecambe seafront.

She said: "There was definitely a 'feel good' factor among the holiday crowds. "One family said they'd always enjoyed visiting the resort, but this year the latest improvements along the promenade meant they would be returning more often."

In the countryside, the Wray Fair and final days of the Scarecrow Festival gave a significant boost to tourism in the Lune Valley. Senior tourism officer Jim Trotman attended the fair and reported good crowds and a great atmosphere.

He said: "The fair and the festival are tremendous examples to other rural areas wishing to encourage more tourists. There must be a huge amount of work from the volunteers and they deserve all our thanks."

Meanwhile, the promotional campaign for the summer is hotting up with special emphasis on intensifying the publicity for Morecambe and Heysham's First Great British Fish and Chips Feast on June 24/25.

Senior Tourism Marketing Officer, Suzi Williams, said she was optimistic that the summer of 2000 would see the north Lancashire district continue to grow at a faster rate than many other English tourist areas.

She said: "The investment by Seacat in their improved ferry services from the Port of Heysham means that we are guaranteed a further boost in visitor numbers as the summer gets under way.

"If the fine weather holds, we are in for another record-breaking year."