AN EFFORT to bring rural Yorkshire back to life after the devastation of foot and mouth was being launched today.

Tourism chiefs from across the region were due to start the Walk Yorkshire Campaign at Bolton Abbey, near Skipton.

The launch is part of a project, spearheaded by the Countryside Agency, to get visitors back into rural Britain.

Representatives of national parks, the Yorkshire Tourist Board and local authorities have been invited, along with those who work in the front line of tourism, including hoteliers and staff from tourist attractions.

A Yorkshire Tourist Board spokesman said: "The event is designed to illustrate that walkers are welcome in our countryside and to show that the tourism industry is united in its determination to recover from the damage caused by the events of 2001."

Meanwhile, the launch of the nationwide Your Countryside, You're Welcome campaign was taking place today at Hatton Country World, a visitor attraction and working farm in Worcestershire.

It was to be attended by rural affairs minister Alun Michael and Baroness Blackstone from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Keith Buchanan, Countryside Agency co-ordinator, said: "Essentially people stopped visiting the countryside last year in large numbers and it had a very serious impact on businesses.

"There is no doubt that with the combination of foot and mouth and September 11, it was a double whammy and foreign visitor numbers came right down.

"This consensus came through in both the Rural Task Force and the Haskins Report that there should be a campaign to get people back.

"So there will be thousands of events up and down the country."

* Tourism in England needs "serious funding" if it is to recover from the impact of foot and mouth, a trade leader warned. Bob Cotton, of the British Hospitality Association (BHA), said the country's tourism industry needed improved funding and policies if it was to attract holidaymakers from Britain and abroad.

His warning came just days after two MPs called on the Government to develop an effective strategy to help the "demoralised and struggling tourist industry".

Updated: 11:31 Monday, January 28, 2002