DEVON’S tourism businesses have hailed a positive summer season with strong visitor numbers and solid spending, but heatwaves and last-minute bookings have been a challenge.

The county relies heavily on a robust summer season to support its vast number of leisure, accommodation and hospitality businesses, and positive readings have been issued about this summer.

A host of businesses have confirmed strong visitor numbers, with a helping hand from the government’s Great British Summer Savings scheme that slashed VAT on the likes of visitor attraction tickets and children’s meals to five per cent compared to the usual 20 per cent.

But the extreme hot weather at the start of the season has been identified as an issue for some, with visitors perhaps preferring outdoor activities to indoor ones, or eschewing going out at all.

North Devon’s The Big Sheep acknowledged the heatwave “wasn’t great” for visitor numbers, but that once temperatures cooled slightly, there was a clear bounce back.

Tara Stapley, the attraction’s general manager, said the government’s VAT reduction scheme also helped.

Over in East Devon, Josh Haywood, resort director at Crealy Theme Park, said the business had a good summer but acknowledged the challenges of the extreme heat at the start of the season.

Down in one of South Devon’s most salubrious spots, Salcombe, the owners of beach-side restaurant The Winking Prawn also reported a good summer.

Looking more holistically at the county, Visit Devon said it “hasn’t been a boom season for everyone” but that the good weather had certainly helped during August, “particularly with filling last-minute accommodation availability, including rooms and camping pitches.

“Visitor behaviour has been very weather-dependent,” said Sally Everton, director at Visit Devon.

“Indoor attractions have generally found it more challenging, as visitors have favoured being outdoors and close to water – whether the coast, beaches or rivers.”