THE New Forest has proved a top tourist spot this summer, according to early figures.

The number of campers visiting the area has shot up by almost a fifth in the last year.

Tourism chiefs say that industry is continuing to reap the benefits of one of the hottest summer seasons on record.

"It's been a brilliant season for all our campsites and we are finding it is carrying on through September," said Theresa Garnett of Forest Holidays, which runs the ten Forestry Commission sites with a total of 3,220 pitches.

She added: "It has been absolutely incredible and the number of campers is about 17 or 18 per cent up on last year. It just shows what a difference a bit of sunshine makes.

"But it is not just the summer holidays. It was a good Easter and if the season gets off to a good start like that, it is great for site manager morale.

"We have found that a lot of new campers have turned up, though. Because the weather has been so good, quite a lot have gone out and bought a tent and taken up camping."

The knock-on effect is also being felt by the bigger holiday park operators - not just for this summer, but also for 2004.

At Shorefield Holidays, which has its flagship site at Milford-on-Sea, and also runs a site at Everton (Lytton Lawn) and two at Ringwood (Oakdene Forest Park and Forest Edge Tourist Park), marketing director Lesley Lawrence said: "It has been a very good year, but it is still going on."

With the four sites able to accommodate 1,800 families, she added: "We are receiving a lot of inquiries for the remainder of this year and, after all the amazing weather we have had, a lot of calls are coming in for next year as well."

The Forest's day-out attractions have been going well, too, and one on target to break another of its records is Paultons Park at Ower.

Last year, Paultons' popularity grew still further with a record year and, a spokesman confirmed that attendances have gone up again this time round.

At Beaulieu's National Motor Museum, a spokesman described the year as a good one, but with the scorching weather having drawn so many families to the beaches, a record is not on the cards.

New Forest Tourism spokesman Tony Barnfield described the summer as "generally very successful."

He said: "We have had a very healthy year in the Forest - and it isn't over yet. During the school holidays, a lot of families head for the beaches and we tend to attract a lot who take their holidays before the school holidays in May and June and afterwards in September."