GOOD grief! When I read your report of Christchurch trader Mark Galpin’s decision to ban tourists from his High Street shop (March 21), I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Laugh, because his approach to customer service is so flawed it is almost comical; cry, because if we treat tourists as a nuisance we’ll all be out of business in no time.

What I found really disturbing was Mr Galpin’s claim that ‘at least 45 to 50’ local residents had told him they avoided his shop at busy times.

One man’s oddball approach to business is bad enough but if there really is a general public antipathy towards tourists, that is genuinely worrying.

For the vast majority of coastal communities up and down the country, tourism is the lifeblood of the local economy – and that applies to Bournemouth, Poole, Swanage and elsewhere just as much as to Christchurch.

We should all wake up to the fact that, in the eyes of tourists, our towns are interlinked. Of course there is a healthy rivalry between us but a bad visitor experience in one place affects us all – next time, they’ll go to Cornwall. I am fully aware that from a retailer’s point of view, buy-nothing browsers can be a problem but a blanket ban is not a sustainable business model – get the products and service right, and they can be persuaded spend money.

With the Easter holidays and the peak summer season fast approaching, it is imperative that we extend the warmest of welcomes to all. Without tourists we would all be much worse off.

SIMON SCARBOROUGH, general manager, The Norfolk Hotel, Richmond Hill, Bournemouth