'Quite simply one of the most beautiful islands on earth.' Where could this introduction from the latest Lonely Planet guidebook be describing? Zanzibar, Tahiti or Tasmania perhaps? No, it's Britain, and the upbeat guide to the sights on our doorstep could not have come at a better time.

Following a week when the Foreign Office issued a warning that British tourists abroad face a heightened security threat worldwide, many people are taking a wait-and-see approach to booking a foreign holiday. Meanwhile, the war in Iraq has put off many overseas visitors who would normally be flocking to our shores. This has resulted in a glut of hotel rooms being sold off at discount rates and smaller than average crowds at tourist honeypots such as the Lake District and Stratford-upon-Avon, making a holiday at home an altogether more attractive prospect.

So why aren't more of us rushing to book a short break in Cardiff or a week in the Cotswolds? Apart from the obvious price deterrent (with the advent of budget airlines a flight to Nice can now cost less than a train ticket to Manchester) there is the fact that booking a British holiday is often more hassle than booking a foreign holiday.

This is largely because many travel agents are not geared up to sell British holidays (not enough commission in it to make it worth their while) and there is no single port of call on the internet which enables us to research and book a holiday online, resulting in lengthy trawls through endless accommodation sites.

Another more nebulous factor is the lack of any coherent marketing of Britain to the British. This should, hopefully, improve with the merger this week of the English Tourism Council and the British Tourist Authority to create a new tourism body, Visit Britain.

As well as continuing to promote Britain to overseas visitors, the new body will also have a budget to promote England at home (the Welsh and Scottish tourist boards already have similar budgets).

The first domestic television and print advertising campaign for sev eral years will launch on St George's Day (23 April) urging people to holiday in England this summer. This will be backed by a brochure of special offers. Work is also commencing on englandNet, an ambitious internet project which is being billed as a one-stop shop for booking English holidays online and will go live next March.

In the meantime, there's plenty to stay home for this summer: the opening of the new Saatchi Gallery on the South Bank on 17 April; the completion of the Hadrian's Wall walking path in May; and the unveiling of the massive Bath Spa regeneration project, to name but a few highlights. Meanwhile innovative and fresh hotel brands such as Hotel du Vin, Alias Hotels and Malmaison all have new properties in the pipeline.

So if you have ever fancied being a tourist in your own back yard, now's the time to do it.