SMALL hotels, guest houses, restaurants and visitor attractions are being offered a package of business support to help them recognise the potential of Information, Communication Technologies (ICT) and trading online.

The launch of the scheme by the Southern Tourist Board and Business Links, which will benefit from European funding, coincides with the period when the tourist trade in the region has been particularly badly hit by the foot and mouth outbreak.

Odds Farm Park at Wooburn Common, now re-opened, was closed for seven weeks as a precautionary measure, and several of the staff lost their jobs. Most have now returned.

The Government Office for the south east has commissioned a survey to look at the economic impact of foot and mouth on businesses in the region, to include Bucks. It is due to be completed on May 2 though no date has been set for publication.

Alex Pratt, chairman of the newly-formed Business Link covering Bucks, Oxon and Milton Keynes,

said: "The scheme is timely. We shall do our best to help wherever we can."

The business support project will run until March 2003 and the cost of joining the scheme is £50 per business.

It will allow businesses to be eligible for a six month computer loan, together with a package of business support and workshops.

A Business Link adviser will visit participating companies to discuss their current/future business and computer needs. Workshops and seminars have been arranged to cover a variety of subjects from the internet to how to take bookings on line.

Southern Tourist Board's IT project manager, Christine Hedley said: "Being given the opportunity to try a computer, access advice and training on suitable packages and swap ideas with other businesses is a real step forward and good news for the tourism industry as a whole."

For more details contact either the Southern Tourist Board on (023) 8062 5400 or Business Link on (0845) 606 44 66