A CAMPAIGN to save the great British postcard has won backing from Bournemouth tourism chiefs and local shopkeepers who sell the traditional seaside greeting cards.

The decline in letter-writing, and the increased use of mobile phones and emails, have taken their toll on the use of postcards to pen holiday messages to loved ones.

Research has revealed how postcard sales have plummeted by 75 per cent in the past decade.

Now Coast magazine has launched a campaign and competition to preserve postcards.

Editor Clare Gogerty said: "Postcards are as important to the British seaside as fish and chips or rock.

"We are in danger of losing this silly, saucy and sunny way of communicating.

"Postcards are the perfect way of saying Thinking of you' when you are travelling.

"Not only does a postcard on the doormat lift the spirits, but it is also a great record of our changing coastline.

"Coast wants to encourage visitors to the seaside to send postcards home and halt this sorry decline."

Sales of postcards at Square News on Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, have dropped during recent years.

Assistant Lisa Sutton told the Daily Echo: "We are selling a few; probably about 30 postcards a week, but not as many as we did.

"The figure will go up in the summer months and I think it is a good idea to keep this tradition alive.

"Postcards are part of the British seaside holiday."

Sally Barnes, manager of WHSmith, said: "Postcards are still very popular.

"People like to buy them while they are on holiday and we sell quite a lot.

"We'd be in favour of any campaign aimed at preserving them for future generations."

A Bournemouth Tourism spokesman said: "We have sold the traditional postcard for many years and will continue to do so.

"Up to 30,000 postcards are sold annually and they are very popular with international students.

"It is something that visitors expect when they come on a British seaside holiday; some send them to friends and family but others keep them as souvenirs."

  • The Save the Seaside Postcard campaign will be launched in the April issue of Coast magazine with four free postcards being given away to readers.