Tourism workers are divided over the success of this year’s peak summer holiday season, with some reporting an improvement on 2009 and others seeing average results.

A mid-season poll by Normandy tourist board found 38% of professionals had noticed growing numbers of foreign visitors this year, with notably more Britons.

Another 40% thought turnout was broadly the same. Haute-Normandie appeared more positive about the season than Basse-Normandie.

Marie Gabrielle Clément from the Normandy Comité Régional de Tourisme (CRT) told The Advertiser: “Opinions were quite divided between satisfactory and average. July was a beautiful month as far as the weather was concerned, which helps.”

About 60% of those questioned in the late-July survey predicted August would be a positive month for tourism, but many of them remained cautious because of the weather.

August proved to be a rainy month, and a final assessment of how the tourist season fared will not be made public until later this autumn.

Ms Clémént added: “We saw the beginning of a return of foreign tourists. The situation with the British was less catastrophic than it had been last year. It is not fabulous yet, but we feel that this is the start of their comeback.

According to the tourist board research, Normandy remained a popular destination for French visitors this year, but in no greater number than last year.

Some 23% of those polled believed French trade was in decline compared with 2009.

One of the best-performing sectors was camping, where 70% of site owners said they were happy with numbers and about half reported an improvement on last year.