A SLOGAN to market Worcestershire's top attractions could help revive tourism.

Despite crowd-pullers such as Worcester Cathedral, Royal Worcester Porcelain and the Malvern Hills, a county council investigations has highlighted the region as a whole is failing to attract visitors - especially when compared to other Midlands counties.

The report, issued by an economic development regeneration panel, noted the value of tourism to the county's economy, at £422m a year, is less than Gloucestershire at £537m and Leicestershire, at £782m.

The panel was critical of the local authority's tourism strategy and warned Worcestershire County Council and the district councils that the area's economy will suffer unless it is better marketed.

The slogan "Worcestershire - A County for all Seasons" has been suggested as just one marketing ploy to reverse a drop in tourism of eight per cent between 1997 and 2000.

The fall is despite a reported 80 per cent increase in the number of visitors to Upton-upon-Severn since last year - put down to the success of the annual jazz festival.

The report said: "We do not consider that the county is being marketed as broadly and as effectively as our neighbours and competitors.

"Tourism officers are doing an excellent job in serving the public and providing high quality information about local attractions.

However, there does not appear to be consistent marketing of tourism for the county as a whole through tourist information centres.

Visit Heart of England, formerly the Heart of England Tourist Board, was singled out for criticism in the report.

It said the current service it provided was not effective in helping the development of the sector in Worcestershire.

"It seems to have lost some direction and a mere name change to Visit Heart of England is not going to solve the problem."

The report concluded: "It is regrettable that the economic well-being and effectiveness within the county does not appear to have a very high priority in the council's strategy."

Tourism is the third highest contributor to Worcestershire's economy, attracts about 13 million people a year and generates 15,000 jobs.

National trends, such as the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and global terrorism are being partly blamed for the decline.

Recommendations in the report include the county and district councils increasing the level of funding allocated to tourism.

It said high priority should also be given to developing a countywide web-based facility, which fully interacts with other tourist web sites in the county.

Chief Executive of Visit Heart Of England, David Moyser defended their record, saying: "So far this year in Worcestershire we have already secured further funding and hosted a three-day trip for 60 members of the British Guild of Travel Writers, which will generate positive coverage of the county and help to bring in more visitors.

"We will continue to work closely with tourism officers across the county on domestic and overseas campaigns, and on projects such as Food and Drink in Tourism and Access 21, all of which support the economic development of the tourism sector in Worcestershire and the region as a whole."