WHAT have you got planned for this weekend? Will you be wandering through David Hockney's vision of spring, captured in pictures of the Yorkshire Wolds created on his iPad and displayed in Bradford's Cartwright Hall gallery?

Maybe you'll be coming face to face with the Martian puppets from the old Smash TV adverts, who live in the Animation Gallery at the National Media Museum. Or taking a look at the mummy of an Egyptian girl at Keighley's Cliffe Castle Museum.

Despite these attractions being right here on our doorstep, many people are either unaware of them or choose to go further afield for a day trip.

Visit Bradford, the destination marketing organisation for Bradford Council, has teamed up with a national campaign showcasing the region’s history and proud heritage to visitors this spring.

As part of Growing Tourism Locally - a VisitEngland-led project funded by the Government’s Regional Growth Fund - Visit Bradford is joining 23 other English cities, promoting its industrial and creative heritage to visitors over the coming months, with special itineraries for the district including A Victorian Mill Worker, The Footsteps of a Bronte, and Footsteps of the Stars.

As the national tourist board, VisitEngland promotes the country as a powerhouse in global tourism. England represents 84 per cent of the total UK visitor economy, is worth £106 billion, and supports 2.6 million jobs.

Growing Tourism Locally is a Regional Growth Fund Tourism Investment Project that started life in October 2011 with a £19.8 million grant. The three-year partner marketing project followed VisitEngland’s application to the Government’s Regional Growth Fund, approved by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The RGF funding is matched with private sector funding at national and local levels to create a project of £41million leading up to this month.

The Growing Tourism Locally project aims to stimulate the domestic visitor market to expand local economies through increased tourism activity by people living in the UK. The project enables VisitEngland to work in partnership to facilitate growth at a local level.

"Growing Tourism Locally has the potential to create the equivalent of 9,139 full time jobs across England," says a spokesman. "It is focussed on supporting areas that are currently dependent on the public sector for employment to transition to private sector-led growth and prosperity where tourism can be a key contributor."

Working with VisitEngland on this campaign means the Bradford district will be promoted to a national audience through various media partnerships, including a series of Classic FM adverts.

Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, Bradford council’s executive member for employment, skills and culture, said: “Bradford has a rich and fascinating history and this is highlighted by the variety of experiences people can enjoy across the district this spring. There’s something for everyone, from the great Victorian grandeur to the beauty of the moors.

“It’s great to be involved in such a large-scale campaign. It means that people who wouldn’t normally consider visiting the Bradford district are going to find out about all the wonderful experiences we have to offer here as part of our heritage, and be encouraged to take a trip to the area.”

As well as promoting areas of historic interest to new audiences across the country, one aim of the VisitEngland campaign is to boost the local tourism economy and in turn create more jobs within the sector.

Sarah Howsen, senior tourism development officer at Visit Bradford, said: “Life is too short to spend each weekend at home when there’s a whole host of historic hotspots to explore right on your front door. People often take a trip abroad and enjoy a foreign city break taking in the sights and sounds of the country’s heritage when there’s so many historical experiences to enjoy in England.

“In promoting these historic hotspots to people living in the country, it’s hoped this will increase the number of local visitors to the different cities taking part in the in Growing Tourism Locally campaign, and therefore creating a number of new job in the sector to meet the growing visitor demand.”

As part of the campaign, Visit Bradford is promoting a number of itineraries including a trip to the Bradford Industrial Museum where visitors can find out what it was like to work in a textile mill in the 19th Century, a visit to Haworth to take in the dramatic moorland that inspired the Brontes, and a tour of the National Media Museum where visitors can go behind the scenes of TV and film production.

* For more about the campaign go to visitbradford.com or visitengland.com