UP to 5,000 rural tourism jobs could be lost because of the disastrous long-term impact of the foot-and-mouth crisis, a report has warned.

It is also feared that the epidemic could leave a devastating legacy which would see 600 businesses forced to fold before next spring.

The alarming scenario was outlined by senior council leaders in North Yorkshire, where a series of foot-and-mouth clusters have left the future of the farming and tourism industries in jeopardy.

The county council's business director, Gordon Gresty, said consultants ECOTEC - on behalf of regional development agency Yorkshire Forward - had carried out a study which suggested that 5,000 jobs were at risk in the North and East Yorkshire tourism sector alone.

"With many of these tourist businesses they only have the summer to rely on and have a serious issue with cash-flow.

"They can't survive without money during the summer months - it can't start to pick up again in December, they have just lost it," he said.

A report to the authority's executive - based on information from Yorkshire Forward and the Yorkshire Tourist Board - says 27 per cent of businesses have laid off workers, while 57 per cent who planned to recruit seasonal staff had not done so.

People who lose their jobs or businesses because of the crisis are also unlikely to find local jobs.

Few surviving traders will be able to take on new staff - leading to a major exodus and increased rural unemployment. Accommodation providers are said to have been hit hardest, losing up to 70 per cent of their trade, while businesses supplying the agricultural and tourism sectors have also suffered.

Jo Pickering, of the Yorkshire Tourist Board, said: "A lot of it rings very true, unfortunately.

"The rural tourism economy in the region is worth £1.7bn and we have lost an estimated £300m of that already, which is a staggering figure."

But she also warned that a rural revival could be a long way off, with foreign visitor numbers likely to be reduced for the next two to three years.

"It is going to be difficult to change perceptions - there has been a huge loss of confidence with the messages portrayed overseas," she said.