BOURNEMOUTH is experiencing a huge tourism boom due to the prolonged spell of record-breaking weather, with hotels and restaurants enjoying a rise in trade of up to 40 per cent.

One hotelier even said his guests are starting to reserve pool-side sunbeds by getting up early and putting their towels down like in Spanish hotels.

Tourism bosses said that by August 1 they had already taken as much as they would for the year from sales of ice cream, the hiring out of beach huts, deckchairs, sunloungers and parasols and fares for the promenade land train and cliff lifts.

While tourism is estimated to be worth £500m to the Bournemouth economy overall, the income from the seafront facilities is usually £5.4m but that is expected to be much higher now.

A spokesman for Bournemouth Borough Council said: “The seafront team believe they have met their income target for the year already thanks to the bumper number of visitors and that is with most of the school summer holiday period still to go which is of course peak season.”

Councillor Pat Oakley, the council’s head of tourism, said: “It’s been brilliant. The weather has been the best since 1976 and we are on track for a bumper year for everybody.”

David Bailey, chairman of the Bournemouth Accommodation and Hotels Association, said: “The heatwave has been brilliant for the town and at the end of the day there’s nothing Brits love more than a day on the beach.

“We actually had a bad start to the year with the cold and snow but we’ve definitely managed to pull it back and that is great news not just for hotels but also for restaurants, shops and taxi drivers.”

Kevin Wood, manager at the Oceana Group, which runs four hotels in the town, said their rooms were fully booked every day with a 15 per cent increase in guests.

He said: “We would normally have been running at 85 per cent capacity but there have been no rooms available because we’ve been at capacity every day.

“Our lido has been heaving and visitors have been getting up early to put their towels by the pool - it’s been more like Spain.” Peter Collett, who manages Bournemouth Pier, commented that the kiosks have been regularly selling out of umbrellas, parasols and sun cream.

West Beach restaurant said business is up 40 per cent and they have had to turn away people without reservations.

Joe Abbott, who runs a temporary vintage fun fair on the seafront at Bournemouth, said: “When we booked this space last year we obviously hoped for good weather to bring the visitors but what we have had has been incredible.”

A seafront bike hire stall has reported a 50 per cent increase in customers.

Employee Dexter Morgan said: “When the weather is rubbish nobody comes down here so when we have this sunshine it really helps us and other small businesses along the pier.”