Colchester looks set for one of the busiest tourism seasons ever.

But it could be two years before exact visitor numbers to the town are available.

Apart from bustling town centre shopping and swarms of day-trippers at the town's varied attractions, the only indicator Colchester Council has is requests for information.

And if they are anything to go by, Colchester could be the destination for nearly six million tourists who, between them, add more than £160m to the borough's economy.

Find out more about Colchester by visiting www.thisiscolchester.co.uk Marketing and tourism officer at the council Karen Elmer said: "The only real indication we have is people going through the information centres and that is just as busy as it has ever been. It is very positive."

She added visitor numbers are collated each year and the current year will be looked at in February or March, before being fed into a national visitor survey.

Colchester is now bracing itself for the busiest visitor period of the year, which spans the rest of the summer holidays.

The most recent information about visitor numbers are for 1999. They show that between 1993 and 1996, the value of tourism has rocketed 162 per cent.

In 1999, 5.5m people visiting the town brought in £165.5m.

Of those, 62,000 were overseas visitors staying in the town, 386,000 UK residents who stayed in the town and 4.6m day trippers.

By Laurence Cawley

Reporter's e-mail: laurence_cawley@thisisessex.co.uk

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