The new programme, which includes £3 million ($4 million/€3.5 million) worth of funding from the anticipated underspend on the London 2012 budget, has the potential to create 12,000 new jobs and lead to an extra £500 million ($794 million/€581 million) being spent in the economy over the next three years, Hunt claimed.

"We think this is a real opportunity," said Hunt.

"Because the whole country is paying for the Olympics we want the whole country to benefit."

Hunt claimed that Britain was the first country ever to host the Olympics and Paralympics that has tried to use the event to boost domestic tourism.

"Given the urgency of the economic situation we face we don't want to leave any stone unturned," he said.

"We want to use next year as the moment we turned round the domestic [tourism] market."

Hunt said that the scheme would be driven locally and not centrally but that he hoped regions outside London involved in hosting the Olympic Torch Relay, which starts its tour of Britain on May 17 when it arrives at Land's End, and the Cultural Olympiad would use these events to showcase themselves.

Hunt launched the scheme as the first of several initiatives he plans to unveil in the build-up to London 2012 that he insists will show that the whole of Britain is benefitting from staging the Olympics and Paralympics, not just the capital.

He reeled off a series of figures, including that £6 billion ($9.5 billion/€7 billion) worth of Olympic-related contracts have been awarded to 75,000 companies, 98 per cent of them British and half of them based outside London.

The Games will provide, Hunt claimed, with Britain with £1 billion ($1.6 billion/€1.1 billion) worth of free marketing and help consolidate the country's position among the six most visited tourist destinations in the world.

He admitted that there could be a downturn in tourism during next year as people avoid London because of the Games but that he ultimately expected Britain to benefit from staging the event.

"We want to harness that [free public relations] for the UK and turn it into holidays booked," he said.

Hunt also claimed that he hoped the Games would help repair Britan's image abroad following the riots in several cities last month.

"It would be good to put the record straight," he said.

"What happened is not indictiative of our cities.

"We want to grasp the opportunity.

"The global spotlight will be on the city [London] and the country."

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