AN ARMY of tourists from York, Selby and North Yorkshire are being drafted in to help hunt for missing tot Madeleine McCann.

Travel agents in the city and wider afield are distributing leaflets to thousands of holiday-makers from the region travelling abroad urging them to stay vigilant and report any sightings of the four-year-old.

The campaign is being backed by Madeleine's aunt, Philomena McCann, and Crimestoppers has opened a phone line for the investigation into the tot's disappearance.

Seeking signs of Madeleine

THOUSANDS of York holidaymakers are being recruited to join in the search for missing tot Madeleine McCann.

Posters have been going up in travel agents' windows, and some operators are distributing leaflets to all people travelling abroad urging them to stay vigilant and report any sightings of the four-year-old.

The campaign is being backed by Madeleine's aunt, Philomena McCann, and Crimestoppers has opened a phone line for the investigation into the tot's disappearance.

Co-op Travel Agents at Clifton Moor are making sure everyone who buys a holiday from them gets a copy of the poster - regardless of where they are going to in the world.

Madeleine was taken from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Algarve, in Portugal, on May 3.

Co-op Travel manager Vicki Westerman said the international nature of the investigation now meant all holidaymakers needed to be on the look out.

Miss Westerman said: "We have had a very positive response from our customers. I think everybody just wants to do whatever they can to try and help find Maddie, because it's such a worrying case and an awful time for the family.

"We have put up a poster in our window, and we're putting the appeal poster in every single ticket wallet that goes out to anybody regardless of where they are travelling, because there's always the possibility she's been kidnapped and taken abroad.

"We have sold hundreds of tickets to Portugal and Spain, and anyone that goes in the next couple of weeks will get a copy of the poster."

At Quartz Travel, in Heworth Road, they are employing a similar policy, but have found that many people are not choosing to travel to Portugal out of respect.

Senior sales consultant Alison Popely said: "The poster is going out to people going to all destinations and we also have it displayed in our window.

"We have had a lot of people talking about the case and saying they had thought about going to Portugal, but deciding not to go out of respect to the little girl's family and what they must be going through - that seems to be the general feeling."

Madeleine's parents have been co-ordinating the Find Madeleine campaign to organise an international hunt.

Its website received five million hits in the first 24 hours after its launch last Wednesday.

The Sky News Look into My Eyes poster carries a photograph of Madeleine, with a message urging people to report any sightings to Crimestoppers or the police in Portugal.

Thomson Travel has branches in York and Selby and is supporting the campaign.

Laura Holmes, assistant manager at Thomson in Low Ousegate, said: "The company is supporting this campaign.

"We sell hundreds of tickets to Portugal, it's an extremely popular destination, as the Algarve has something for people of any age, and there doesn't seem to have been any drop in interest since this investigation began."

Pat Emsley, manager at WA Shearings in Colliergate, said: "I would support his campaign and anything that can be done to help find this little girl."

Co-op Travel in Market Place, Selby, is also backing the campaign.

Travel advisor Kara Lancaster said: "So far people have been very supportive of our efforts."

Phil Cornelius, managing director of Ryedale Travel, with offices in Helmsley, Malton, Pickering, Pocklington, Thirsk, Ripon and Knaresborough, had not heard of this campaign, adding: "I was in the Algarve last week and didn't see any posters until the last day."

Expats do their bit

A FAMILY friend of the McCanns - Shaun Toole from Sheffield - is helping to co-ordinate a poster campaign on Spain's Costa del Sol with the help of Sky Ferrey, the former PA to the editor at The Press.

Sky, formerly of Bishopthorpe, and Shaun, have downloaded the Sky News Look into My Eyes poster and printed it off thousands of copies to be distributed in banks, bars, restaurants, supermarkets from Gibraltar to Malaga.

They have sent the poster to Liz Parry, editor of the Sur, an English newspaper for expats on the Costa del Sol. "She is also sending a Spanish version of the poster which I sent her, to all her Spanish media contacts down here on the coast," said Sky.

Site support

Millions of people around the world have expressed support for the family of Madeleine McCann by visiting their official website.

The number of visitors to the newly-launched Find Madeleine Internet site hit more than 60 million last night.

After a week of dramatic developments in the investigation, Portugese police kept a low profile.