Yorkshire Tourism in £7bn Heaven
Figures revealed today show a boom in visitor spend since the launch of the official tourism agency, Welcome to Yorkshire.
The county has seen a staggering 22 per cent increase in the number of overnight holiday visitors, compared to a UK average of just 12 per cent, bringing nearly £7billion into the region's economy.
A high-profile marketing and PR campaign, two world awards and gaining Government backing have all helped catapult Yorkshire onto the global stage and into the public eye. The figures speak for themselves, since Gary Verity took over as chief executive the economic impact of tourism to the county has risen from £5.9 billion almost two years ago, to nearly £7 billion.
This good news regarding the value of tourism, will add extra weight to championing tourism as a vital part of the UK economy's recovery.
The announcement comes on the back of Paul Fullerton's, the Bank of England's agent in the region, call for Yorkshire businesses to maintain the region's confident image to the outside world to help attract new investors.
Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, agrees: "Confidence is key when it comes to attracting visitors. Fortunately for us Yorkshire is an amazing destination, we have bucket loads of confidence and our hot tip is that it will be the UK's top place to be in 2011.
"Our national economy is dependent on sectors which can grow and succeed. It's absolutely imperative we have the support to sustain this growth, for our industry and those which depend on it. The tourism industry supports a quarter of a million jobs. Our job is work with our fantastic industry partners to give Yorkshire an international profile, bring visitors into the county and grow visitor spend whilst they are here."
The county has been far from unnoticed, more recently mentioned in Westminster following Welcome to Yorkshire's place on the shortlist and subsequent win at the World Travel Awards for the World's Leading Marketing campaign. The agency beat off competitors from Abu Dhabi, Kuoni and Qatar Airways to win this highly coveted prize.
One of the many tourism businesses to both benefit from and contribute to Yorkshire's increased profile is Bolton Castle. Owner, Tom Orde-Powlett, said: "It has been an exciting year here at Bolton Castle, which has seen the creation of a wild boar park and the installation of a falconry centre, due to open at the start of 2011, as well as more cultural and historic events, weddings and school activity days than ever.
"We also had the pleasure of hosting the launch of Welcome to Yorkshire's new Turner Trails. Our visitor numbers are up by 20% on last year and much credit for this goes to Welcome to Yorkshire's pro-active and inspired team, led by Gary Verity, who have dramatically improved the profile of the Yorkshire Dales. This increase in visitors has allowed us to grow the business and start planning some fantastic additions to the attraction for the future, such as a children's adventure playground, based on the castle, which we hope will be in place for the start of 2012."
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Editors' Notes:
- Welcome to Yorkshire is the official tourism agency for Yorkshire, working to grow the county's visitor economy.
- Welcome to Yorkshire is funded by Yorkshire Forward, the Regional Development Agency charged with improving the Yorkshire and Humber economy.
- Key facts include:
- Tourism in Yorkshire is worth £7 billion annually
- The county's industry employs almost a quarter of a million people
- There are 209 million visits to Yorkshire each year
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Dee Marshall - Head of Communications
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Jo Francisco - Press Officer
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