Hot summer boost for Eastbourne seaside tourism

Eastbourne council said there had been a "tremendous impact" on the local economy

This summer's hot weather lead to a "record-breaking" season in a Sussex seaside town, tourism officials said.

Eastbourne council said online accommodation bookings more than doubled compared with last year.

July showed a 143% increase compared with the same period in 2012. August showed an 84% increase compared with the previous year.

The seafront team reported a doubling of sun lounger hire compared to last summer.

Eastbourne Borough Council's cabinet member for tourism, Carolyn Heaps, said the success was down to an array of events and fantastic weather.

'Surge of interest'

She said more than 42,000 attended the Aegon tennis tournament, 25,000 turned out for Eastbourne Extreme sports festival and the Redoubt Fortress military museum had seen a surge of interest with a 70% increase on visitor figures.

The Towner art museum had 18,000 visitors to its Lyons Teashops Lithographs exhibition and sales at Eastbourne Theatres took more than £250,000 in 10 days, she added.

The international air show, Airbourne, had one of its busiest years on record and footage posted on YouTube had received more than 50,000 views from over 50 countries, Ms Heaps said.

Charity collectors took more than £27,000 over the four days with £8,108 being split between Samaritans and Macmillan Cancer Support.