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Sterling's steep fall may have silver lining...

Tourism, unlike many other parts of the Yorkshire economy, looks set for a bumper year in 2009. The weak exchange rate ought to give a big boost to the region’s competitive edge as a relatively low-cost holiday destination for visitors from home and abroad.

Yorkshire starts with one big advantage over neighbouring regions such as the north-west and the east Midlands. It is far better endowed with natural tourist assets than many other English regions.

These include three of the UK’s nine national parks (the North York Moors, Yorkshire Dales and parts of the Peak District), a heritage coastline, and a collection of popular historic assets ranging from York Minster and Rievaulx Abbey to the Victorian mill village of Saltaire and the stately ruins of Fountains Abbey, both of which are Unesco World Heritage sites.

York and Leeds have both been voted the best city break destinations in Britain in separate surveys veys, and Scarborough, Britain's first seaside resort, has been welcoming visitors for 360 years. The region boasts more theatres and racecourses than Scotland and more pubs than London.

Leeds, Yorkshire’s premier city, will soon have a 12,500 seat arena that will allow it finally to start competing for big music events with Sheffield and Manchester. The success of Yorkshire groups such as the Kaiser Chiefs and Arctic Monkeys helps counter the idea that the other side of the Pennines has a monopoly on musical talent in the north.

Meanwhile, celebrities such as Alan Bennett, David Hookney, Damien Hirst, and Marco Pierre White are a reminder that Yorkshire has contributed a lot more artistically than just providing the locations for popular TV soaps such as AU Creatures Great and Small Emmerdale, Heartbeat, and Last of the Summer Wine.

The region’s tourist industry accounts for 250,000 jobs and is worth around £6.5bn, making it one of the region’s top three industries, says Gary Verity, Yorkshire Tourist Board’s (YTB) new chief executive.

We have been outstripping the growth in the Yorkshire economy,’ says Mr Verity, who was brought in from the private sector to beef up the marketing and leadership of a regional tourist Industry that is still over-reliant on low-value day trippers and is not particularly well known in international markets.

He admits there is still plenty f room for improvement. Last year there were 33m visitors to UK and only 1.2m came to Yorkshire.

According to the latest figures, Yorkshire accounted for just £344m of overseas tourist spending in 2007, compared with £982m in the north-west and £1.4bn in Scotland.

Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency, has recently stepped up its investment in the local tourist Industry to £30m over the next three years. It hopes this will unlock a £300m increase in annual visitor spend.

One of the main priorities is to update the region’s image to attract new visitors, particularly from overseas. A new marketing campaign has been launched to woo Italian visitors and a new international sales, director has been recruited with a brief to raise the region’s profile in overseas markets, such as the US.

“The cultural tourism offer is certainly as strong, if not stronger, than many other UK regions but does not always achieve the profile it deserves,” says Pete Massey, the Arts Council England’s partnerships officer for Yorkshire and the Humber.

Research into the scale and value of the festivais sector in the York and North Yorkshire sub-region alone has shown that more than 300 festivals annually attract around 3.5m visitors, who contribute about £105m to the local economy.

Yorkshire now benefits from a growing number of higher profile cultural assets that certainly serve a much wider constituency than just Yorkshire,” says Mr Massey, who highlights the growing popularity of venues such as the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and a theatre sector that is “stronger than ever”.

Opera North now has a permanent state-of-the art opera house at the Leeds Grand Theatre, commensurate with its national status. Traditional events such as the Ilkley Literature festival are being joined by upstarts such as the Musleport world music festival in Bridlington (attracting the likes of Toumani Diabate and Buena Vista Social Club), and the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing festival in Harrogate.

“What makes these arts assets really special is the context within which they take place,” says Mr Massey, “With three national parks and a beautiful heritage coast, Yorkshire itself is possibly the most beautiful venue In the country.”

FT.com (January 2009)