Tourism in Yorkshire welcomed record breaking quarter as spend increased to £194m

Yorkshire welcomed a record breaking number of visitors in the summer of 2016, according to new figures released by Visit Britain.

Between July and September, the region saw a 12% increase in inbound visits to 476,098, and a 21% increase in overnight stays to 4.9 million.

Spend was also up 14% on last year between July and September to £194m.

This is the highest quarter for the county since records began in 1961, Visit Britain have said.

Sir Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said: “This is incredible news and testament to the hard work being done by Welcome to Yorkshire and the businesses within the county to make Yorkshire very much front of mind domestically and internationally.

“Events like the Tour de Yorkshire, 2019 UCI Road World Championships as well as Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds, Great Yorkshire Show and Yorkshire Festival, all help to showcase what Yorkshire has to offer.

“The profile of the county has never been higher and we will keep working to promote the county as the number one visitor destination.”

Yorkshire also saw a record breaking six months for visitors from April to September 2016. Countries with the most Yorkshire-bound visitors included Germany, Australia and the USA, while the top three reasons for trips were visiting friends and relatives, holidays and business travel.

Yorkshire statistics for April to June 2016 were also record breaking with a 10% increase in visits, and spending by inbound visitors up by 8% to £145m.

Tourism and hospitality in Yorkshire, which is worth £7b annually, employs almost a quarter of a million people

Patricia Yates, VisitBritain director, said: “This strong growth in inbound tourism is great news for Yorkshire, not only demonstrating its appeal to visitors from across the globe, but underpinning tourism’s increasingly important role as a driver of economic growth across the region.”

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