Day-trippers prefer car

(First Edition)

MOTORISTS are more likely to cut down on leisure trips than peak-hour travel if driving costs soar, the AA said yesterday.

The AA's figures show four out of five day visitors to the countryside travel by car, with 98 per cent arriving that way at some tourist sites.

About one-third of trips to leisure sites are 40 miles or more long and more than 630 million day trips are made yearly to heritage sites where more than pounds 5bn is spent.

The AA said nearly three out of four people in the UK make a least one day trip a year to the countryside.