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WE'VE GOT SUN, SEA AND SAND: Now let's have some decent weather, say traders

HOTELIERS and tourist attractions are banking on sunshine over the bank holiday weekend to make up for a dismal August so far.

Businesses have been hit by wet weather throughout the month but weatherman Bob Poots from Weymouth said that conditions should improve over the next three days.

He said: "We had the average rainfall for the month in the first 11 days of August, about 55mm, and we have only just had 100 hours of sunshine.

"Normally we get about 200.

"From here on in though it doesn't look like it's going to be too bad.

"I think we have had the worst of it.

"The weather is certainly going to improve for the next few days."

The boost comes after tourist attractions, shops and hoteliers were hit by poor weather during August.

The early summer weather had attracted a lot of visitors but when the August rains came the numbers fell.

Angie Bennett, of Bennetts Water Gardens, at Chickerell, said: "We have had a really good season up to now and visitor numbers were up on last year but August has been a washout.

"Visitor numbers over the last couple of weeks are down and the lilies are just thinking 'is the summer over?' "We are open all of the bank holiday weekend and we are just hoping for a sunny break because it's always one of the busiest times of the year."

Manager of the Windsor Hotel Tony Sawyer added: "The weather has had an impact but people are still coming. They are leaving it later and later to book.

"The profile of the business has changed in that we get far more people booking for shorter stays, like two nights, rather than a week or five nights."

Mr Sawyer said business was looking good over the bank holiday and hopes an Indian Summer can continue the momentum. He said: "It's just one weekend but if the nice weather lasts it could be a springboard for September and October, when people will only go away if the weather is really nice."

Manager of the Victoria Hotel Ali Asum feared that business had been badly hit by the August downpours.

He said: "We are badly affected, bookings are down and it's down to the weather. We are not expecting it to improve and nobody has booked for the bank holiday."

General manager of Weymouth Sea Life Park Gareth Lay said the centre had not been too badly' affected as many of their facilities are indoors.

He said: "It's been OK, the bad weather has not really dented our trade but obviously we do see an uplift in visitors on sunnier days. I can imagine seafront traders have been massively affected over the last couple of weeks. A nice sunny bank holiday to bring a few day trippers into town would be good."

11:41am Friday 22nd August 2008

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