A hotel group has cast aside doubts about the future of the tourist industry by commissioning a major extension to its North Yorkshire headquarters.

Best Western, the largest hotel brand in Britain, has given the go-ahead for an office extension to its national headquarters in York, being designed and built by Severfield-Reeve Projects.

Work on the £500,000, two-storey extension at Best Western's headquarters at Clifton Moor Business Park is under way and is due to be completed this autumn.

Severfield-Reeve Projects, of Thirsk, has won the contract for the 11,000sq ft extension after designing and building Best Western's £1m, 15,350sq ft headquarters, which opened in 1997.

Best Western, a hotel-chain membership and purchasing organisation, which represents more than 320 independent hotels in the UK and employs 120 people in York, has steadily expanded in recent years.

Its member hotels in North Yorkshire and the North-East include The White Horse, Darlington; Whitworth Country Park Hotel, Durham; The Feversham Arms Hotel, Helmsley; Solberge Hall Hotel, Northallerton and Ripon Spa Hotel.

Best Western chief executive, David Hayes, said: "The last few years have been particularly difficult for the national tourism industry because of the combined problems of flooding, foot-and-mouth and, more recently, last year's September 11 atrocities, all of which led to a massive downturn in tourism and hotel bookings."

He said the extension had been planned since early last year.

"However, it has taken until now for us to build up enough faith to go ahead. We are entering the new financial year with confidence and proceeding with this extension is a demonstration of that."

Severfield-Reeve Projects managing director, Lindsay Ross, said: "We are very pleased to have been selected again by Best Western. The original building project was a mutual success and we look forward to a repeat performance.