THERE has been a lot of doom and gloom surrounding the holiday industry, with Icelandic volcanoes, strikes and holiday firms falling over.

But it would appear all those factors have at least resulted in a good turn-up economically for the city and, by extension, the county.

Across all the sectors and organisations that deal with tourism, there are reports of more visitors and more enquiries.

Ancedotally it would appear both foreign and domestic visitor numbers are up.

Those from other countries is good news, but it is obviously the varying domestic factors that have seen more Brits choose Oxford as a destination this summer.

There is less money around — although it would be silly to suggest the city itself is cheap — but the various disasters that have hit the travel industry have shaken confidence.

The British Airways industrial action and package holiday firms collapsing have left many people not willing to take a risk on being stuck.

Hopefully, with good impressions created and recommendations to friends, this tourism boom will stretch past this summer.