Previous national emergencies such as the foot and mouth outbreak or the 9/11 terrorist attacks show how important managing post crisis message is for British tourism, our fifth biggest industry.

For this reason, as Shadow Tourism Minister, I called an urgent round table meeting of senior representatives from the tourism industry this week to discuss what needs to be done to meet this latest challenge.

Worryingly, the Government's strategy of spelling out the worse case scenarios has led to a degree of panic as the perception of this strain of flu is placed out of context in the public's eye. Of course people must be informed and precautions must be taken. But the Chief Medical Officer's' back of the fag packet calculation that 65,000 people are likely to die has simply incited inevitable panic and an unnecessary strain on the NHS as sensationalist headlines hit our newspapers.

It is these very newspapers, now available in most news stands across the world that help cement the idea that Britain is ill-prepared for this pandemic and the country should be avoided. There are already examples of cancellations from Greece, Italy, China and Russia, all in part due to bad UK headlines and India is now advising its citizens not to travel to the UK.

Yes there have been 26 deaths attributable to this variant of flu, but almost without exception those who died were suffering from other complications. But this should be placed in context seasonal flu where causes over 3,000 deaths a year. We should also recognise that out centralised NHS system mean the UK's stats are reportedly very efficient, compared with other countries - does anyone really believe there has been only one death attributable to swine flu in China?

And should the illness be contracted, (which lasts on average for four days - not weeks as some papers have reported) Britain is one of the few places in the world where anyone, regardless of nationality, will be treated free of charge.

There is no doubt this pandemic must be taken seriously, but ill-advised statements are leading to misleading headlines which in turn pose a threat to British tourism. Our message should be clear; Britain remains very much open for business.