A £2m tourism campaign has been launched to attract people North Yorkshire.

The advertising campaign, called Britain's Biggest Break, highlights some of the visitor hotspots, including Harrogate, historic abbeys and Ripon's deer park.

The initiative aims to attract short-break visitors from London, the South-East and the Midlands to put Yorkshire on the map for the coming holiday season.

Regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, which is behind the campaign, also believes it will generate millions of pounds in extra business and help to save jobs in the county.

Thirty-second adverts have recently been screened on television across London as the four-month campaign gets under way.

"Advertorials" published in magazines and newspapers expect to reach an audience of more than seven million in the key visitor markets.

The spokesman for Yorkshire Forward, Keith Crane, said: "The intention is to really get the region and what it has to offer in people's minds. There are places that people don't expect and they should realise that there is more going on here than they think.

"North Yorkshire has more historic homes, castles and abbeys than any other county. We think it is important that people come to visit places such as Castle Howard, Studley Royal's deer park and Fountains Abbey."

The agency's head of marketing, Theresa Lindsay, said the campaign had been divided into three "inspiration" themes in order to target a wider audience, including younger people and the more affluent.

She said: "'Natural Inspiration' focuses on the beautiful countryside, nice hotels and good food. 'Pure Inspiration' will make people aware of the luxurious and pampering breaks available and 'Divine Inspiration' will advertise the cultural and heritage sites that the region has to offer."

The agency hopes to build on the success of its first campaign in 2001 - the largest concerted tourism campaign of any English region.

Mr Crane said that Yorkshire Forward should improve the figures from the 2001 campaign, which generated an extra £18m for Yorkshire economy and safeguarded 800 jobs