Although many tourism businesses suffered over Easter due to the foot and mouth crisis, the fact that parts of the countryside were closed seems to have encouraged visitors to spend their time and money at visitor attractions. Cumbria Tourist Board, which had stepped up its marketing to persuade visitors to come despite the concerns about foot and mouth, claims that figures for visitor attractions were actually up on last year. CTB director, Chris Collier, says that although visitor numbers were slightly down on previous years, most businesses have reported that Easter was better than expected. Accommodation providers reported that bookings were slightly down but shops suffered the most with takings down by between 25 and 50 per cent. Drayton Manor Family Theme Park near Birmingham saw a 6 per cent increase in visitors over Easter compared with last year. Pleasureland Southport had a 4 per cent increase and Crealy Adventure Park in Devon, an area particularly badly hit by foot and mouth, saw visits up by 26 per cent. Cornwall's Eden Project welcomed 46,000 visitors over the holiday weekend. Gosport's new museum of naval firepower, Explosion, was also pleased with attendance which is almost 7000 after its first month. Tussauds says its season got off to a good start. Spokesperson, Emma Hart, said: We are cautiously optimistic that the early indications have been encouraging. So far, numbers are slightly up on last year as a result of pro-actively marketing with advertising, PR and promotional campaigns and the new attractions are proving very popular with guests. Trade was brisk at many seaside towns, including Blackpool, Brighton, and Bournemouth.