JOHN Godber is well known for his plays and long association with Hull Truck Theatre.

Now, a training programme devised by the playwright which encourages people to promote East Yorkshire's tourism credentials is being showcased in Westminster.

Business from across the region were gathering in London this evening to hear more about the Yorkshire Passion scheme, which aims to give visitors to the area an uplifting experience.

The project turns everyone from cafe workers to taxi drivers into ambassadors for the place they live.

The tourism industry generates a staggering £670m annually for the local economy, so looking after those visitors will be crucial to bucking the downturn.

As part of the Mail's Bounce Back campaign – which brings together some of East Yorkshire's best-known companies and organisations to help combat the recession – the importance of tourism to the area is being highlighted.

The meeting at Parliament tonight is being attended by local MPs including Hull West and Hessle MP Alan Johnson and Graham Stuart, the MP for Beverley and Holderness.

They are helping to show off Yorkshire Passion to a wider audience.

The scheme uses actors from Hull Truck Theatre Company who perform short plays written by Mr Godber to take the audience on a journey through the eyes of a visitor coming to Hull and the East Riding.

Acting out first a comically bad experience, and then showing how it should be done, the course aims to remind delegates what it is that makes their region so special.

Mr Godber, who is also the chairman of tourism organisation Visit Hull and East Yorkshire (VHEY), joined the then-struggling Hull Truck Theatre Company in 1984 and has since helped it flourish, explains why he got involved.

"I'm a Yorkshireman and have been for 53 years, and I've lived in this area for nearly 26 years.

"It was a way of using very simple theatre and education techniques to communicate to people in a relatively short space of time how good the region is.

"The people are a great resource. If you tell them what's on offer that they may not know about then they become ipso facto ambassadors. It's a kind of gentle education process.

"Everybody is a story teller and goes away and tells either a good or a bad story about where they've been."

The programme organisers also pride themselves on its 'alumni scheme', which encourages people who have taken part to stay in touch through a website and newsletter so they continue to be aware of the best things happening around the region.

So far 879 people have taken up the free training, including staff from local taxi firms, hotels, pubs and shops.

Janet Reuben, chief executive VHEY – a Bounce Back partner – said: "We think it's a very innovative way of improving the experience of visitors to the area.

"We just want to show people in London that this is a great programme.

"We decided at an early stage that one of the key elements to make sure a visitor has a great trip is how they interact with anybody and everybody they come into contact with, whether it's the taxi driver or somebody from Hull Trains or even a parking attendant.

"It's about changing the visitor's experience by making sure people are passionate and knowledgeable about the region."

"We do forget that we've got a fantastic museum quarter in Hull, or perhaps we forget what a fantastic market town Beverley is.

"The Yorkshire Wolds are the best kept secret in the country, the Bempton Cliffs, the bustling city centre – it's about reminding people about all that.

"With the Tigers in the premier league we've got a great boost, there's a passion for the city and everything that's happening here, there's regeneration and there's investment.

"There are lots of great things happening here, and the Mail's Bounce Back campaign is an important part of that, so we're trying to capture that sense of passion and share it with our visitors."

The next available courses will be in October.

Anyone interested in attending can call Louisa Walker at VHEY on (01482) 486600, or e-mail louisa.walker@vhey.co.uk