YORK tourism bosses are hoping to draw more British visitors to the city this summer to offset any loss of overseas tourists due to the war in Iraq.

York Tourism Bureau has joined a new marketing campaign, Project George, which will run from 23 April - St George's Day - to the start of the tourist high season in July.

Project George will promote England domestically and aims to make people in their 30s and 40s upwards reconsider taking a short break in their own country.

Since the beginning of the war in Iraq York's tourism chiefs have been bracing themselves for a drop in US and European tourists and it is hoped that this new campaign will deliver thousands of new visitors to the city.

The campaign follows the merger last month of the British Tourist Authority and the English Tourism Council to form the country's new lead organisation for tourism, Visit Britain.

Craig Wilson, marketing manager of York Tourism Bureau, said: "The core objective of our involvement in the campaign is to deliver new visitors from across the UK. "Up to a third of UK holidaymakers have not yet decided where to take their next holiday and we aim to persuade them to choose York. It is important to act now to boost our domestic holiday market."

By joining the new campaign York will benefit from national PR promotions spearheaded by Visit Britain, national newspaper advertising, web marketing and a national television advertising campaign.

The tourism bureau is also working closely with Visit Britain to reassure people that Britain is a safe destination to visit.

Bureau chief executive Gillian Cruddas said: "Our tourism product has improved almost beyond recognition in the last decade.

"We believe there is huge potential to convince our audiences at home of the merits of our beautiful historic city, and of course we will continue to do this alongside our campaigns to encourage overseas visitors to holiday in York."

Meanwhile, one year on from the launch of York's tourism website, www.visityork.org, the city's tourism bureau is celebrating a total of 30 million hits. Americans are the biggest users, with 66 per cent of user sessions generated from the US.

Updated: 08:59 Thursday, April 17, 2003