THE school holidays started today with North Yorkshire tourist chiefs expecting a bumper Easter after the gloom of last year's foot and mouth outbreak.

Domestic and foreign visits to British attractions are set to soar this Easter, according to the British Resorts Association and the British Incoming Tour Operators Association (BITOA).

In the county's rural tourism hotspots such as Hutton-Le-Hole - so badly hit by last year's foot and mouth crisis - the visitors are beginning to flock back.

Relieved ramblers are once again taking to the reopened footpaths, and bookings are rising for tourist accommodation. "It's looking better," said Joyce Fairhurst, of the Barn Hotel and Tearooms. "Bookings are up on last year."

Gillian Cruddas, of York Tourism Bureau, said accommodation inquiries to York Tourist Information Centres were up on last year. "The phones are extremely busy."

Meanwhile, holidaymakers heading abroad were facing problems at Manchester Airport as workers staged a new strike today in protest at planned job cuts, with the threat of more industrial action over Easter. Members of the Transport and General Workers Union walked out for 36 hours at 4am today, and there will be a four-day stoppage over the Bank Holiday break.

Updated: 10:54 Friday, March 22, 2002