Bronte Country Tourism (BCT) has rated its third appearance at the annual British Travel Trade Fair as the most successful yet.

Keighley-based BCT manager Carolyn Spencer returned from the two-day exhibition in Birmingham - the UK's leading showcase for the domestic tourism industry - confident the Bront' Country profile had been raised considerably.

Carolyn says: "It was our most focussed and successful presence to date at the British Travel Trade Fair. We established 160 positive and quality leads from all sectors of the industry, 30 per cent of which were international and included the United States, Japan, China, Australia, Germany and Argentina. Operators are interested in either bringing people to this area for the first time or developing current holiday packages in Bront' Country.

"These holiday packages will be themed breaks mainly, and we will now be looking to develop further opportunities in this specialist sector of the tourism market. A major company running special interest holidays is looking to organise active country breaks in Bront' Country, and they have asked us to put together a programme for them.

"We also identified an opportunity to promote two-way tourism traffic between Bront' Country and Banbridge in County Down, Ireland, the birthplace of Patrick Bront' and location of the Bront' Homeland Museum. This is an initiative we intend to develop."

BCT also launched its new Internet Website at the fair, which will further encourage people from around the world to visit the area.

BCT's promotional bandwagon is set to roll on. At the end of this month officials will be visiting New York to develop contacts already established with a leading American tour operator in the UK, and to give a presentation to the British Tourist Authority. Tagged on to this trip will be a presence at International Tourism Week in Keighley's twin town - Myrtle Beach in South Carolina - where BCT will be the only representative from Yorkshire.

The organisation will return to the USA at the end of May to exhibit again at America's biggest travel show, the Pow Wow in Chicago.

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