Next week, on April 1, Welcome To Yorkshire launches what it claims is the UK’s first sightseeing pass.

The website, yorkshirepass.

com, lists 70 or more tourist attractions such as Skipton Castle and Harewood House, but not the National Media Museum or Salts Mill. The latter two do not charge admission.

The idea is that each of the listed attractions will gain income from the sale of the passes. They vary in cost for adults and children from £28 and £18 per day respectively, to £44 and £26 for three days.

It’s one of eight new schemes, the purpose of which is to persuade and encourage people far and wide to visit and holiday here.

The other seven schemes are: l Sponsoring, for an unspecified sum, ITV’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

l Helping with the production of a TV sequel to The Lakes, which ended its run this week, called The Dales.

l Opening a Welcome To Yorkshire Rhubarb and Custard garden at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show.

l Widening the Welcome To Yorkshire message to more than 30 million people passing through London’s Waterloo Station, from July to September, by supporting the stage production of The Railway Children in a specially-built theatre at the terminus.

l Investing in three walking trails, including one for Bradford’s City of Film.

l Advertising the Welcome To Yorkshire brand on the bodywork of ten Network Rail trains travelling through Cumbria, Lancashire and Greater Manchester.

l Getting behind major cricket matches, golf tournaments and race meetings.

Tourism is no longer a sideline, an offshoot of economic activity: it is reportedly worth £6.5 billion a year to the region (£600 million to the Bradford Metropolitan District), employing at least 250,000 people.

A year after the launch of Welcome To Yorkshire’s three-year, £30 million campaign, to turn up the volume of tourism to Yorkshire and the Humber, Gary Verity, the tourism agency’s chief executive, said visitor numbers had gone up by 31 per cent, with increased spending of nearly £500m.

Yorkshire Forward’s multi-million pound investment in the campaign seems money well spent; but the question people in this part of the region are likely to ask is: how are a rhubarb and custard garden and a stage play at Waterloo Station going to benefit us?

Mr Verity told 1,500 guests at the latest Welcome To Yorkshire conference in Harrogate: “We are supporting Bradford’s UNESCO World City of Film. We are getting behind that big style.”

But he did not spell out what that might mean in material terms; like the Yorkshire Pass announcement, detail was lacking. It might be argued that the conference was simply about headlines, not paragraphs.

One of the guests at the conference was Andrew Mason, chairman of Bradford Property Forum and boss of Newmason Properties.

He said: “The Yorkshire Pass is a good idea. People coming here from Pace and Filtronic might be enticed to stay longer if we offered them a pass. Marketing in London is really good too. Gary Verity was at the City of Film launch last week, and I think Bradford got a good showing at the conference.

“I have been banging on for months that Bradford needs its own unique voice. I came away from that conference with a far more optimistic view. I was convinced that Bradford has got a place within what Welcome To Yorkshire is offering.

“We should stop positioning ourselves against Leeds – bankers and accountants. We should be saying we are a good solid city rather than saying we are going to be led out of demise by retail.”

Rosie Winterton, Minister for Yorkshire and the Humber, sent out this message from Harrogate: “It’s been very difficult during the economic downturn, but people have thought more about what’s on their doorstep.

“We need to keep our focus on how we promote our region nationally and internationally. I know that Welcome To Yorkshire is getting into people’s minds and imaginations.”