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British football fans will still travel to Austria and Switzerland for the Euro 2008 tournament, despite their respective home countries' failures to qualify for the event, a national tourist office has claimed.

It was initially predicted that tourism levels between the British Isles and the Euro 2008 host countries would be limited this summer, with none of the home nations playing in the competition.

However, the Austrian National Tourist Office (ANTO) revealed that up to 15,000 British people are expected to travel to the event, Travelmole reports.

According to a spokesperson for the ANTO, who was speaking after a Euro 2008 roadshow in London, Austria's reputation for hosting international events may be part of the reason behind Brits' willingness to travel to the country.

Petra Stolba, chief executive of the ANTO, said that Austria is 'known for being able to organise a good party'.

She added: 'I'm confident that the fan zones in Vienna, Innsbruck, Salzburg and Klagenfurt, as well as the unique public viewing area on the floating stage of the Bregenz Festival on Lake Constance – where 60,000 tickets have already been sold – will live up to anybody's expectations.'

Switzerland will host its games in Zurich, Basel, Berne and Geneva.

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