Cameron vows to put UK among world's top tourist destinations

In Yorkshire the tourism industry is worth 6.5bn a year, employing about a quarter of a million people in the region.

Mr Cameron accused the former Labour government of neglecting the tourism industry during its 13 years in power and said it was now essential to take the opportunity offered by the 2012 London Olympics to restore its fortunes.

"For too long tourism has been looked down on as a second class service sector," the Prime Minister said at the Serpentine Gallery in London yesterday. "That's just wrong. It's fundamental to the rebuilding and rebalancing of our economy.

"It's one of the best and fastest ways of generating the jobs we need so badly in this country.

"And it's absolutely crucial to us making the most of the Olympics – and indeed a whole decade of great international sport across Britain."

Mr Cameron said that between 2008 and 2009, Britain had fallen from sixth to 11th place in the World Economic Forum's travel and tourism ratings.

"Quite frankly, right now, we're just not doing enough to make the most of our tourism. The last Government underplayed our tourist industry. There were eight different ministers with responsibility for tourism in just 13 years. They just didn't get our heritage. They raided the National Lottery taking money from heritage, because it didn't go with their image of 'cool Britannia'."

"We're going to bring a whole new approach – and a new attitude – to tourism."

Mr Cameron's words were warmly welcomed by industry figures. Chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire Gary Verity said: "We're delighted David Cameron has put tourism high on this government's agenda,"

"We believe our success in improving the Yorkshire tourism economy shows we have a valuable part to play in shaping the Government's future tourism strategy.

Marketing head for Visit Peak District and Derbyshire David Thornton said Mr Cameron's comments marked a welcome change from the policies of the previous administration. "I say 'hallelujah!' Leaving party politics aside, it is refreshing to see a Government actually coming forward and recognising that one of the main opportunities now for growth in this country is tourism."

But shadow culture secretary Ben Bradshaw accused Mr Cameron of ignoring the efforts made by Labour to promote tourism.

"Labour's introduction of free admission to national museums and galleries has helped to attract people from around the world, while opening up access to our rich cultural heritage for everyone in Britain," he said. "We created new national parks to protect some of our greatest natural heritage and opened up our coastal paths."