However, Drinkwater, who made her comments on Tuesday at Building's Winning Work in the Leisure Sector conference, said leisure operators still intended to go ahead with their capital expenditure.
Drinkwater revealed that the preliminary results of an Ernst & Young survey on leisure development in Europe, conducted after 11 September. This showed that developers expected to go ahead with refurbishments, but that capital investment was being cut.
Dean Villa, development director of Whitbread, the largest restaurant provider in the UK, said the firm intended to maintain its £120m development programme next year and in 2003. He said it included the construction of 70 Costa coffee bars and the refurbishment of 100 Travel Inns, 75 Beafeaters and 140 coffee bars.
Bill Reddrop, construction manager for Moto Hospitality, formerly known as Granada Road Services, said the company was pressing ahead with a £110m capital expenditure programme.
David Turner, property director of LA Fitness, which is planning 16 fitness clubs this year and next, said: "We have not seen any effect on our business in the last six weeks. The impact on us is likely to be limited."
However, Ernst & Young's survey revealed that leisure operators are less optimistic about their prospects than they were three months ago. Companies say there are fewer business and international customers, and most expect business to decline compared with the same period last year.
