EFFORTS to attract tourists to Bolton are paying off.

In a week when the town showcased its attractions for tour operators and group organisers, Roger Williams finds that visitors are often amazed what they find.

THERE'S a certain irony to complaints by Bolton motorists about parking charges in the town.

While car owners bemoan the rising cost of visiting the town centre, free parking for coaches is one of the council's initiatives in its drive to attract day-trippers and other tourists.

Visiting coach parties are allowed free parking at Mill Hill Car Park and are encouraged to drop off and pick up at Moor Lane bus station free of charge.

The town's popularity with those who organise such trips is one of the main reasons why it was able, at the last count, to attract an impressive 7.5 million visitors in a single year.

Business people on conferences and independent tourists on short breaks make up the rest of the tourist market.

And while to a casual cynic the words "Bolton" and "tourism" might seem unlikely partners, those statistics are more persuasive than even the town's most enthusiastic advocates.

Among the cheerleaders is acting head of tourism Barbara Howorth. She hails from Northern Ireland but as someone with an outside perspective she believes she is sometimes better placed to appreciate the town's charms than those born-and-bred here.

She reels off a list of some of Bolton's selling points - the surrounding scenery, the warmth of welcome, a rich heritage including historic attractions such as Smithills Hall and cultural lures such as Indian emporium the house of Raja and a location at the heart of Britain for starters.

But while there is invariably positive feedback from those who do visit, the challenge is persuading them to come in the first place.

She says: "When we send questionnaires to people who visit and ask for their perceptions before and after, they were often expecting Bolton to be a dirty industrial town.

"But they can't get over the countryside, that comes across time and time again. They also often comment on how friendly the people are. That's a very good marker of people's perceptions not matching up to the reality."

Efforts to woo coach trip and conference organisers are extensive. Exhibitions such as last Saturday's Great Days Out Fair at the Reebok Stadium -- where delegates snapped up 1,000 guides detailing free attractions in the town -- help spell out what the town has to offer.

Organisers are invited on familiarisation weekends in which they are taken on tours of the town's attractions and, where appropriate, conference facilities. Many of those who arrive on business are so impressed they come back with their families for pleasure.

The message is also taken on the road, with stalls in places like London, Dublin and Belfast emphasising the town as a great touring base.

Those in the know believe the Bolton "product" mainly appeals to those in the 45-plus age group, who dominate the coach group and short-break market. Attempts to reach them include advertising in television listings magazines.

There are joint plans by Bolton and Wigan to invite travel writers from national newspapers and magazines to help spread the word.

Tourism leaders certainly cannot be accused of resting on their laurels. By 2007 they are aiming to add another 750,000 visitors a year to the 7.5 million recorded for 2001. It is already expected 2002's figures will show a significant upsurge when they are published.

Mrs Howorth said: "The figures are already very encouraging. We have evidence to suggest that although Bolton is not a traditional tourist destination, it is one that's growing in significance."

But it's not just the council spearheading Bolton's push to attract visitors. Individual businesses play an equally crucial role.

Only quality-approved accommodation is promoted by the tourist office and quality does not come much higher than at the Jumbles Country Park guest house, the first in town to win a coveted AA Five Diamond rating.

A favourite with business visitors, owners Colin and Lesley Sobey say guests are astonished at the beauty of the Jumbles Reservoir and West Pennine Moors.

More urban-based attractions are also doing sterling work marketing themselves and the town. The House of Raja, where coachloads of visitors are regularly given an introduction to Indian culture -- from how to put on a sari to how to make a chappati -- for one.

Marketing manager Sital Raja-Arjan MBE recently even managed to win custom for Bolton hoteliers by persuading visitors from a Bombay-based business, planning to send staff to London to train, to send them to Bolton instead.

She said: "They had never heard of the place. When I showed them round they were gobsmacked how much there was here."

John Jewitt, licensee of Ye Olde Man and Scythe, which he believes is England's oldest pub, even dresses up as Civil War-era landlord Cockerel to entertain parties of visitors to the Churchgate pub.

He says: "We can't compete with the big boys so we make the most of what we have that's unique."

That could be the motto for Bolton tourism as a whole. We might not have sunshine or glamour but we make up for it in character, colour and culture. Plenty more visitors will drink to that.