Press Release

Food for thought at UK tourist attractions

18th August 2008

People may be spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing the family outing this Bank Holiday Weekend, but this is not always the case when it comes to the food on offer at the UK’s top tourist attractions, according to a new report by Which? Holiday.

Just one in three (29 per cent) Which? Holiday members who had visited a UK attraction in the past year thought there was a good choice of food available, and almost two thirds (58 per cent) thought that the food on offer was not very healthy.*

Which? Holiday inspected eight of the UK’s top visitor attractions** and found that the range of healthy options varied considerably.  Alton Towers performed well, with a range of clearly labelled and healthy food choices available at all its outlets. Tate Modern also performed well, with a large selection of healthy choices.  However, these foods were not easily identified.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach fared badly, with very few healthy food options and very little nutritional information available***.  A number of other attractions, such as Giant’s Causeway and York Minster did have a small number of healthy food options, but these were not easily identifiable.

Lorna Cowan, editor of Which? Holiday says:

“It’s great to see that some attractions, such as Alton Towers, are making a real effort to promote healthy foods. But healthy options at these attractions are often not very well labelled, which can let them down.

 “We’re not saying that treats should be completely out of bounds on a day out, just that suitable healthy alternatives should be more easily available for people who want them.”

Which? Holiday gives the following tips to people visiting attractions this weekend:

>               Check the attraction’s website before you go to see what’s on offer

>               Look out for signage that helps identify healthy options – but beware the advertised healthy option may not be the healthiest choice available

>               Take along fruit, nuts and other healthy snacks to eat throughout the day

>               Try to locate free water fountains, or ask for tap water in restaurants to avoid fizzy drinks and the high cost of bottled water.

>               Go to www.which.co.uk/foodshopping (from Monday 18th August) to download a Which? traffic light card, which will allow you to judge if something is high or low in fat, sugar and salt.