Figures just out show Yorkshire tourism made a grand begin to 2013 after the announcement that the Tour de France is coming to the county.
Despite freezing temperatures, Yorkshire tourism saw the best year-on-year rise for spend in England this January and February in comparison to the identical time last year – up 47 per cent.
The news comes as Welcome to Yorkshire teamed up with Lightwater Valley this week to launch a brand new summer campaign to advertise the county.
The new campaign capitalises at the strong begin to 2013 which also saw trips to Yorkshire up 6.6 per cent and overnight stays rise 24.2 per cent through the same period, in keeping with the nice Britain Travel Survey (GBTS).
This all follows the historic news in December 2012 when Welcome to Yorkshire discovered their audacious bid to bring the Grand Depart of the Tour de France – the world’s largest annual sporting event – have been successful.
Gary Verity, chief executive, Welcome to Yorkshire, said: “Stats like these are testament to the labor and backbone of our tourism businesses, coupled with the innovative work we do to market Yorkshire.
“These encouraging figures follow our announcement that we had secured the Tour de France – and the next international media coverage it brought for Yorkshire, thrusting it into the spotlight once again.
“Our summer campaign, backed by Lightwater Valley, builds in this great start. It shows that by working together around the county, Yorkshire can paved the way.
“Yorkshire is now recognised as one of the vital leading tourist destinations in Europe and our summer guide is only one of various initiatives we’re resulting in build in this momentum.”
These latest stats showed that during an analogous period, England’s national averages for trips were up 0.9 per cent, overnights stays up 7.3 per cent and spend up 9.2 per cent – all way below Yorkshire’s performance.
Early estimates predict Le Tour may be worth greater than £100 million to Yorkshire’s economy when the race’s Grand Depart kicks off on July 5th, 2014, for stage one and July 6th for stage two.