Bronte Country has the potential to gain further benefit from the district’s popularity with mountain bikers, according to a council officer.

Dave Melling, Bradford Council’s rural economic development co-ordinator, said the area was very suitable for people who had recently started the sport or for more experienced enthusiasts seeking less challenging routes.

He was addressing the latest full meeting of the Bronte Country Partnership (BCP), which markets Keighley and Bronte Country as a tourist destination.

Mr Melling said one Haworth pub landlord was already taking advantage of the mountain biker market by attracting groups of cyclists with an offer of a free curry.

“Bradford district has historically been a hotpoint for cycling,” he said. “You’ve got St Ives Country Park, which is excellent for mountain biking, the quarries and parts of Ilkley Moor. We’re looking at how this can be developed more in the Aire Valley.”

He added: “We’re supposedly in the middle of a major recession and people are not able to travel abroad so much. What can we do to make people visit Bronte Country for more than just one day?

“Things are difficult for smaller businesses at the moment. People have less money to spend, they’re not buying luxuries. But there are still people out there with money and those without still want entertaining.”

He said the national political climate was meant to be looking favourably at examples of self-reliance and self-help, which include organisations such as the BCP.

He said factors which have an impact on the district’s popularity as a visitor destination include the quality of its infrastructure and he cited footpaths, bridleways and the Leeds-Liverpool Canal.

Responding to Mr Melling’s talk, Johnnie Briggs, who runs the Bronte Walks tour company, said local businesses which had been competing with each other do now accept the need to co-operate to encourage tourists to stay for longer and visit more attractions.

He said they could work together to offer discounts which would make visits more affordable for families.

Roger France, Keighley & Worth Valley Railway film liaison officer, said a ‘passport’-style joint ticket giving people access to multiple attractions would only be beneficial once visitors started staying in the area for longer periods of time.

Graham Mitchell, representing Keighley Bus Museum and Keighley Town Council, said: “There’s an infrastructural problem, particularly at the Keighley end of the valley.

“We don’t have a single big hotel in Keighley - there’s a desperate need for this. When film companies want to come here they end up staying in Bradford or Leeds.”