LANGUAGE schools across the conurbation are looking forward to a busy summer, despite the industry taking a tumble in other parts of the country.

Schools in London, Oxford and Cambridge have seen their student numbers fall in the aftermath of foot-and-mouth and September 11.

But at a meeting of the Poole and Bournemouth Language School Liaison Panel this week, representatives of the local industry revealed that business was buoyant.

"It's better than we thought it was going to be," said Pat Marchiori-White, principal of the Southbourne School of English and chairman of the Recognised English Language Schools Association (RELSA).

"The big groups aren't coming but there are lots of individuals returning. But the Spanish trade seems to be going to America and there's a trend towards Australia and New Zealand."

Dan Ferris, principal of Eurocentres, said: "We have a quick rise to a peak in July but the drop in numbers in August is quite sharp."

Mike Francis, principal of Westbourne Academy and chairman of the International Edu-cation Forum, said: "I think that it's the quality of education here that is helping Bournemouth and Poole survive the rigours of the last year."

Mrs Marchiori-White agreed: "London is way down. Cambridge and Oxford have also suffered. Bournemouth is holding its own."

Local language schools bring in more than £100m to the local economy each year - more than the conference industry.