THE ILL wind of the foot and mouth crisis has ironically blown Blackpool a lot of good with tourists heeding Government warnings and opting for a trip to the seaside instead of the countryside.

As Fleetwood and Great Eccleston's Farmers Markets close for the foreseeable future, hotels and guest houses are filling up and business is booming.

Head of Blackpool's tourism department Jane Seddon said: "We certainly don't want to capitalise on the seriousness of the foot and mouth issue, but Blackpool has been particularly busy over recent weekends.

"Our location means that people are rediscovering the beach and possibilities for coastal walks as well as the other attractions."

Josie Hammond, secretary of the Blackpool Hotel and Guest House Association, said: "We've had lots of enquiries and our members are reporting that many guest houses are nearly full which is unusual for the time of year."

Local hoteliers agree, including Joe Pisacane, general manager of Queens Hotel on South Promenade, who said: "We certainly have been busier over the past couple of weekends."

Mrs Davies, owner of The New Marlbro Hotel, added: "We do have a few advance bookings, but loads of people are just turning up on the off chance, saying other hotels they have tried are packed out! It's not just at the weekends either -- we've been busy during the week too."

And Blackpool seems to have found a niche as a walkers' paradise. One group of ramblers from Accrington out walking along the Prom in brilliant sunshine yesterday (Wednesday) said: "We wanted to keep walking and the countryside is closed, so we decided to come to Blackpool."

Head of public relations for Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Sarah Dornford-May, said: "We were expecting to be busy because of our 80p ride weekends, but we've had two very, very good weekends and it has to be said that with the foot and mouth crisis people aren't giving up their days out, but they are being responsible about where they travel to and coming to Blackpool."

Hounds Hill centre manager John Holt said: "Business is good, but so far the increase on last year is minimal. We're sympathetic to the problems being experienced in rural areas and Blackpool has an important role to play in keeping people out of high risk places, so in the short term we could see an uplift."

The influx of visitors is not all good news though.

Sgt Michael Swindells of Blackpool Police said: "We've picked up on CCTV around town that the car parks have been really busy and there has been a steady increase in reported incidents since around the time that foot and mouth broke out.

"On Saturday February 24 we had 320 reported incidents in the 24-hour period, then the following Saturday we had 356 and this last Saturday we had 408, though there are certainly other factors involved."