THESE next few weeks will be make or break for many businesses. The school Easter holiday is seen traditionally as the start of the tourist season, and thousands of jobs depend on this being a bumper year.

Twelve months ago the outlook was desperate. Stately homes, pubs, hotels and gift shops all stood empty as Britain's countryside was placed in quarantine.

For the dales and the moors, foot and mouth disease wiped out the 2001 tourist season. Businesses went under. Many more are today dangling from the finest financial thread, owing their existence to the prudence of bosses who had saved enough to survive.

Those reserves are now exhausted. Every tourist trader needs money in the till, and quickly. As they fling open their doors this weekend, they will anxiously scan the horizon hoping to see hordes of visitors eager to stay and to spend.

Initial reports on hotel bookings are hopeful. But the Government should be doing much more to help.

Last Easter, Tony Blair made a whistlestop visit to York to declare that Britain was open for business. This was just the high profile boost the tourist industry needed.

But this beleaguered industry still needs support, even though foot and mouth is only a bitter memory. Where are Mr Blair and his senior ministers now? They should be in their wellies, walking footpaths, visiting rural attractions and declaring the countryside open for business. Every MP with a rural constituency should be doing the same.

British people need reminding of the beauty on their doorstep, at a time when budget airlines are making holidays abroad ever more affordable.

The Government did launch the Your Countryside, You're Welcome campaign this month. But you are probably not aware of that. This must be one of the least effective publicity campaigns ever.

Rural affairs minister Alun Michael is in charge. Perhaps if he wasted less time churning over the same pro- and anti-hunting arguments, he might be able to contribute to saving Britain's rural tourist industry.

Updated: 10:32 Friday, March 22, 2002