THEY came from London, Brighton and Canterbury, unsure what to expect of Bolton.

But they went away waxing lyrical about the warmth of the welcome they had encountered here.

The town played host to around 20 southern conference organisers in a two-day "familiarisation" visit arranged by Bolton Council to show key players in a lucrative market how much Bolton has to offer -- and also to alter a few preconceptions.

Conferences, along with coach tours, have been one of the mainstays of Bolton tourism, which last year boasted 7.5 million visitors to the town.

And tourism chiefs left no stone unturned at the weekend in their efforts to entice yet more visitors to the town.

The conference organisers were shown hotels including the De Vere Whites and Holiday Inn in Horwich, the Last Drop Village Inn in Bromley Cross and the town centre Moat House.

They also toured the town hall, Bolton Arena and the Shree Swaminarayan Hindu Temple.

The Mayor, Cllr John Walsh, welcomed the guests for coffee and biscuits in his parlour, describing the town as "the jewel of the North-west".

In a nod towards traditional Lancashire weather, the group's itinerary described a walk through the town centre "weather permitting". As it turned out, the bright weather did more than permit -- it positively insisted.

And, like the unseasonal sun, the conference organisers were beaming at the end of the two days.

Clea Mylonas, of National Air Traffic Services, said: "The thing we were most struck by was the warmth of the people. It made our trip. We had a wonderful time.

"The buildings we saw were magnificent. The Arena was incredible, but what we noticed most was the welcome. We're hoping to come back." Her sentiments were echoed by Monica Sollash, who owns London-based ETC.

"I thought it was great," she said. "I wasn't exactly expecting dark satanic mills, but Bolton still came as a pleasant surprise. The people were lovely and every time we went somewhere I thought: 'Gosh, this is wonderful.'

"I think it's definitely somewhere I will bear in mind in the future."

The run-up to the familiarisation weekend had been disappointing, with several potential guests pulling out because of a downturn in the travel industry caused by the war in Iraq. But it ended on a positive note.

A council tourism spokeswoman said: "It went very well. One woman said she'd been on lots of these kind of visits, but this had been the best.

"You can never tell exactly what will come out of a trip like this, but the idea is to raise awareness and we've done that. People were surprised at what we had to offer and commented on the variety of venues."