Tourism: has Bath bucked the trend?

They said America would stay home.

Worried about money, the yanks would pass on that trip to Europe. The one truth about recessions, they said, is that tourism slumps.

Around the west country hoteliers, ice-cream sellers and tour guides steeled themselves for a miserable summer. Then, in April, the Met Office told us it would be a "barbecue summer". And pundits predicted that Brits would stay home for the holidays too, bringing some consolation.

So what happened?

On an open top bus tour through Bath, I met the whole story.

This is Larry and Tina Taylor, from Sapulpa, Oklahoma. They tell me they love Bath. Nationwide, the number of American visitors is down, by 12%. But in Bath, US numbers are slightly up. (Most interesting, maybe, is that Larry and Tina are smalltime landlords, renting property out in the mid-west. And yes, they are still flush enough for a European trip.)

Two rows behind the Taylors sit two Germans, Mark and Claudia. We chat as the bus cruises through The Circus, half listening to the amusing commentary about Nicholas Cage selling his house and losing £300k.

European trade is down 6% across the UK, according to Visit Britain. But Mark and Claudia are loving Bath, and so are their French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch friends. Continental visitors are slightly up here.

In fact throughout August, the Open Top Bus Tour's trade increased by 15%. Enquiries at Bath's Tourist Information Centre were up 7%. Visitors to the Abbey went up from 39,907 to 50,171.

Why?

Well first - and this is not meant unkindly - Bath is a safe bet. In a recession people stop buying whimsical, flippant, risky things. Supermarkets do well. Chocolate bars too. And for holidays or a day trip, people back a dead cert. In Bath you're guaranteed buckets of history and jaw-dropping architecture, and if it rains it doesn't really matter.

Bath's second strength is normally its weakness. Business conference trade is poorly served here, without many venues to hold big events. And on average people stay two or three nights, there are few week-long stays.

"But that weakness has become our strength," says Robin Bischert, Chief Exec at Bath Tourism Plus. "Business tourism has been really badly hit, firms have all cut back. And we've not suffered as much, because we're not really in that market."

But they aren't filling Rebecca's Fountain with champagne just yet. Although numbers are up, spending is down. Pizzerias tell me there's a lot more sharing going on. Table wine and tap water are de rigeur. South West Tourism, the quango that helps advise people in the holiday business, issued a warning this week against complacency.

Are they right? If you're in the holiday trade, I'd love to hear your summer stories.