There was, however, a suggestion that in some areas there are insufficient well-trained and motivated young people.

Michael Timewell, head of Norfolk Tourism, has a strong message for anyone who would rather be on benefits than work in the tourism sector.

“Frankly, if that is their attitude we don’t want them,” he said. “We want people who are committed. With 47,000 people in Norfolk working in tourism, we want people who are committed to work in the sector. We have to make sure that the skills are available and in place.”

The EDP recently reported that there is a “skills gap” evident in Norfolk across all sectors of industry, and quoted Chris Starkie, chief executive of Shaping Norfolk’s Future, as saying that improving skills levels across the county was “critically important” to its economic performance.

But he is broadly encouraged by the survey’s results for the tourism sector.

“I would say that the fact that more than 80pc of businesses are able to get the staff that they want is proof that there isn’t a critical problem,” he says.

“However, there’s no doubt that to enable tourism businesses to succeed and continue growing in a competitive world, it is important to have suitably skilled employees. “As a partnership Norfolk Tourism is working with organisations such as Norfolk County Council to look at ways of ensuring that tourism businesses are able to get staff with the skills they need to help businesses grow.

“Shaping Norfolk’s Future has just secured European funding to try to understand better the needs of employers, so that training can be employer-led and not college-led.” The survey suggests that there is cause for confidence when it comes to staffing and recruitment. In the past year, 58pc of businesses’ staff numbers have remained the same, while only 18pc have decreased and almost a quarter (24pc) have increased.

And, looking forward, there seems to be little pessimism. Only 8pc think that staff numbers will decrease, 72pc think they will stay the same and 20pc think they will increase in 2010.

But from the employees’ perspective, there is some cause for concern on the matter of pay. While only 2pc of businesses say that they expect to pay their staff less in the coming year, 60pc will impose a pay-freeze and only 38pc plan to award any pay rises.

“What we are seeing in tourism is being reflected in most other sectors,” said Mr Starkie. “One reason that unemployment hasn’t risen as much as we expected in Norfolk is because most employers are freezing wages rather than letting staff go.”

Elsewhere the survey confirms that the majority of Norfolk tourism businesses are small operations. Almost a third (31pc) have from one to five members of staff and 25pc have none. Only 7pc of businesses employ 51 people or more. Meanwhile, 14pc have six to 10 staff, 12pc employ 11 to 20 people and 11pc have 21-50.