Negative TV weather forecasts killing Normandy tourism

Negative weather forecasts are the reason for a fall in tourism numbers in Normandy, north France, according to one industry leader.

Creator of the Festyland fun park near Caen and founder of the Normandie Sites tourist website Hervé Lebel believes highlighting rainfall is impacting upon the number of visitors to the region.

Mr Lebel believes there is more of a focus on the negative as oppose to the positive by TV presenters when it comes to the weather.

‘Normandy tourism relies heavily on Parisians, but when they watch the TV weather forecast on a Thursday night and it suggests rain in Normandy at the weekend, then no one comes and hotels lose 50 percent of their takings,’ Mr Lebel said.

‘Forecasters need to know they can have a huge negative economic impact on the region. They have a huge responsibility.’

He has highlighted the term ‘at risk of showers’ as being a key to putting tourists off visiting the region of Normandy, and is annoyed that forecasts are generalized for a region of almost 650 miles.

‘They also give the impression that if it’s going to rain in Cherbourg for example then it’s raining across the northern coast of France; we are given the impression the weather is the same in Brest, Brittany as it is in Pas-de-Calais,’ he added.

He is now hoping to pull the general public and politicians together and install webcams around Normandy so the weather forecasts can be more accurate from area to area.

Normandy is famous for being the site of the D-Day landings where Allied forces landed on the beaches to plan a surprise attack on the Nazis during the Second World War.

Millions of tourists from all over the world each year visit the scenes where the battles took place and the war monuments found throughout the region to remember those who lost their lives.