IT'S more than 30 years since Basil Fawlty first appeared on our TV screens. But it seems the spirit of Britain's most famous fictional hotel owner is alive and well after the Government's tourism chief warned that thousands of jobs in hotels could be lost in the recession, because visitors are being put off by shoddy service.

Christopher Rodrigues, chairman of Visit Britain, raised a few eyebrows yesterday when he claimed that 50,000 jobs could go in the tourism industry, with poor service being partly to blame. His remarks come just days after an investigation by the consumer group Which? Holiday magazine found mouldy mattresses, stained duvets and dirty toilets in some budget hotels. Mr Rodrigues, who represents the tourist boards of England, Scotland and Wales, told a national newspaper that some hotels were still being dragged down by surly reception staff and the failure to offer basic services such as decent towels or fresh soap.

"We've had a period in which people could get away with not being of the highest quality. We're now in an environment where you have to do quality.

"Poor value for money and poor service costs jobs and will cost more jobs in a recession.

"Threadbare towels, a previously-owned bar of soap and a grumpy person who says, 'we don't do breakfast before 8am and we don't do it after 8.12am' – you don't
get a lot of happy customers."

He estimates that tourism earnings in Britain will fall by £4 billion during the recession, costing between 30,000 and 50,000 jobs in an industry that employs more than two million people.

In response, Visit Britain has announced plans to launch a £6.5 million "value campaign" in April, aimed at promoting Britain overseas as a country where visitors can get more for their money.

Although it's not proving to be the best of weeks for the British hotel industry, Miles Quest, spokesman for the British Hospitality Association, believes that hotels have cleaned up
their act.

"The whole industry has improved immeasurably in the past 20 years and we are investing £5 billion a year on new hotels and refurbishments. As with all industries there are some laggards, but by and large hotel service is much better than it used to be."

Yorkshire's tourism industry generates more than £6bn each year and employs around 243,500 people. But despite the gloomy economic predictions for the next 12 months, Gary Verity, chief executive of the Yorkshire Tourist Board, believes the outlook is bright.

"We are anticipating an upturn in tourist numbers in Yorkshire this year. We have excellent hotels and B&Bs and in terms of service I think we're ahead of the rest of the country."

He says a recent survey carried out on behalf of YTB revealed that 96 per cent of the 7,500 people questioned said they would recommend visiting Yorkshire to their friends.

"That doesn't smack of somewhere which has a problem with the quality of its service."

Francis Hindle, general manager of the Brooklands Hotel in Barnsley, says the days when Basil Fawlty-type characters could get away with insulting guests have all but gone.

"I'm sure there are bad examples out there and you only have to look at some of the TV series recently to see there are some hotel nightmares, but they are few and far between.

"The hotel industry is a lot more savvy now and switched on to the fact that the general public's expectations are much higher now than they were in the past."

He disagrees that poor service will be responsible for job losses.

"There is a lot of business tourism in this country and that could be restricted by the recession, but to suggest that bad service could cost 50,000 jobs is way off the mark. The global downturn might do that, but it won't be caused by poor quality."

If anything, he believes the economic downturn could help boost tourism in Britain.

"We have a great opportunity over the next 18 months while the pound is weak to attract more foreign visitors, because Yorkshire has a lot to offer and we would be foolish not to capitalise on this," he says.

"We have to make sure that the experience they have is second to none and it's something I'm constantly telling our staff, that you can compete on price and facilities, but the one thing that costs nothing and which guarantees people come back, is good service and that's something I think we're particularly good at in Yorkshire."