THE Yorkshire Tourist Board is concerned that images of the devastation in national media are causing some people to cancel holiday bookings.

A spokeswoman, Lesley Wragge, said: "Visitors to places like the Yorkshire Dales National Park, Yorkshire coastal towns and villages, York and the vast majority of North Yorkshire will not suffer any inconvenience.

"Only a small handful of places are affected in the vast area of the North York Moors and around Thirsk.

"It would be dreadful shame if visitors shunned Yorkshire for no reason.''

Head of leisure and tourism David Goodwin said: ''Some areas have been badly-hit by flooding but they are localised and, despite strong images on television and in the national press, we are very much open for tourism business.

"The tourist board, local authorities and the voluntary and commercial sectors including hotels, guest houses and visitor attractions have all worked hard since foot-and-mouth devastated the tourism industry.''

Sarah Ward, tourism officer at Ryedale District Council, where officers have been working to help flood victims in Helmsley and neighbouring communities, said: ''There has been information from the tourist board that bookings have been cancelled.

"Our sympathies are with the people affected by the flooding, but it was in just a small area and we are still encouraging visitors to come and enjoy this part of North Yorkshire, which has many other attractions.

"People can get information from any of our tourist information centres.''