Today marks the final day of English Tourism Week and in support of this, I visited three Pickering-based tourist sites in the constituency: the renowned North York Moors Railway, 157-year old tea room Botham's and idyllic retreat, High Dalby House.
We are incredibly lucky to have such a variety of options on offer in the constituency, from stunning landscapes, to coastal retreats and picturesque market towns. Tourism is critical to the economy in North Yorkshire and with the challenging past two years and the wider focus now on pandemic recovery, I hope many choose Thirsk and Malton as their destination this summer.
Pre-pandemic, the industry supported 2.6 million jobs in England and in Yorkshire and Humberside, £8.8bn was spent on tourism in 2019. By the end of 2022, Visit Britain forecasts that visits will have recovered to around two thirds of pre-COVID levels so it's even more critical we support our local businesses to kickstart the tourism industry's recovery.
