Yorkshire tourism spans international inbound travel, large day-visitor markets and substantial regional visitor economies. The figures below show who visits, when they arrive, why they travel and how tourism contributes across North Yorkshire, the Yorkshire Dales and West Yorkshire.
Contents
- Yorkshire visitor profile
- When visitors arrive and how long they stay
- Why people visit Yorkshire
- North Yorkshire tourism economy
- Yorkshire Dales tourism
- Yorkshire Dales influence area
- West Yorkshire visitor spending
Yorkshire visitor profile
The VisitBritain Yorkshire visitor profile reports that people aged 55 and over made up 31% of Yorkshire visitors, the highest share among the UK nations and regions in the profile. At the other end of the age range, visitors aged 0 to 24 represented 9%, the lowest share among those areas.
The detailed age distribution was spread across several adult groups. Visitors aged 0 to 15 accounted for 2%, while those aged 16 to 24 accounted for 7%. Each of the 25-to-34, 35-to-44 and 45-to-54 age groups represented 20% of Yorkshire visitors. People aged 55 to 64 accounted for 17%, and those aged 65 and over accounted for 13%.
| Visitor age group | Share of Yorkshire visitors |
|---|---|
| 0–15 | 2% |
| 16–24 | 7% |
| 25–34 | 20% |
| 35–44 | 20% |
| 45–54 | 20% |
| 55–64 | 17% |
| 65+ | 13% |
These figures describe Yorkshire inbound visitors in the VisitBritain Yorkshire visitor profile. They are shares of visitors by age, not population estimates for Yorkshire and not a measure of the total number of trips.
When visitors arrive and how long they stay
Summer, defined here as July to September, was the most popular quarter for visiting Yorkshire in the VisitBritain Yorkshire visitor profile. The quarterly split for Yorkshire inbound visits was 27% in January to March, 27% in April to June, 28% in July to September and 19% in October to December.
The January-to-March share is notable because the profile identifies Yorkshire’s 27% proportion as the highest across all UK nations and regions. The quarterly figures describe the timing of inbound visits, so they should not be read as a count of individual visitors or as hotel occupancy.
Yorkshire inbound stays most commonly lasted four to seven nights. Trips in that range represented 42% of stays. Shorter trips of one to three nights accounted for 27%, while trips of eight to fourteen nights represented 15%. The remaining 16% were trips lasting 15 nights or more.
| Length of inbound stay | Share of Yorkshire stays |
|---|---|
| 1–3 nights | 27% |
| 4–7 nights | 42% |
| 8–14 nights | 15% |
| 15+ nights | 16% |
Together, these figures show a market with both short breaks and longer stays, but with the largest individual category being visits of four to seven nights. The data refers specifically to Yorkshire inbound stays and does not provide an average trip length for this profile.
Why people visit Yorkshire
Visiting friends and relatives accounted for 61% of Yorkshire inbound trips in 2022–24, according to the VisitBritain Yorkshire visitor profile. This was the largest stated purpose category in the available figures.
Holiday trips represented 16% of Yorkshire inbound journeys, while business trips represented 18%. Study trips accounted for 1%, and miscellaneous trips accounted for 4%.
| Purpose of inbound journey | Share of Yorkshire journeys |
|---|---|
| Visiting friends and relatives | 61% |
| Holiday | 16% |
| Business | 18% |
| Study | 1% |
| Miscellaneous | 4% |
The purpose figures relate to Yorkshire inbound journeys, while the 61% visiting-friends-and-relatives figure is explicitly reported for 2022–24. They describe the reason for travel rather than the amount visitors spent or the number of nights they stayed.
North Yorkshire tourism economy
Visit North Yorkshire economic monitoring valued North Yorkshire’s visitor economy at £4.2 billion in 2024. The value rose 3.9% year on year. North Yorkshire welcomed 32.2 million visitors in 2024, with visitor numbers rising 3.8% year on year.
The visitor economy supported 38,020 full-time equivalent jobs in North Yorkshire in 2024. This provides a measure of employment supported by the visitor economy, rather than a headcount of everyone who worked in tourism at any point during the year.
Day trips made up a particularly large part of the 2024 visitor total. North Yorkshire recorded 26.2 million day-trippers, and day trips rose 5.2% year on year. The same monitoring recorded just over 6 million overnight stays, but overnight stays fell 2% year on year.
| North Yorkshire measure | 2024 figure | Year-on-year change where supplied |
|---|---|---|
| Visitor economy value | £4.2 billion | +3.9% |
| Visitors | 32.2 million | +3.8% |
| Full-time equivalent jobs | 38,020 | Not supplied |
| Day-trippers | 26.2 million | +5.2% |
| Overnight stays | Just over 6 million | -2% |
| Average stay | 4.0 days | Not supplied |
The average stay of North Yorkshire visitors was 4.0 days in 2024. That measure sits alongside the separate day-trip and overnight-stay totals, which use different units and should not be added together as if they were equivalent measures.
Yorkshire Dales tourism
The Yorkshire Dales National Park recorded 3.9 million tourism visits in 2021, according to Yorkshire Dales STEAM 2021. Tourism visits were down 21.5% in 2021. Staying visitors totalled 0.51 million, generating 1.8 million nights in local accommodation. Day visitors totalled 3.4 million.
Visitor and tourism business expenditure in the Yorkshire Dales reached £310 million in 2021. Day visits generated £136 million. Staying visitors generated £126 million for the Yorkshire Dales accommodation sector and a total economic impact of £372 million.
Staying visitors spent an average of 3.7 nights in the Yorkshire Dales in 2021. Visits supported 8,847 full-time equivalent jobs, while visitor days and nights totalled 11.4 million.
The STEAM report also records changes against earlier measures. Total visitor days and nights fell 17.1% in 2021 and were down 20.6% against the 2019 baseline. These are Yorkshire Dales measures for 2021; the 2019 comparison is a baseline comparison, not a 2021 forecast.
| Yorkshire Dales National Park measure | 2021 figure |
|---|---|
| Tourism visits | 3.9 million |
| Staying visitors | 0.51 million |
| Local-accommodation nights | 1.8 million |
| Day visitors | 3.4 million |
| Visitor and tourism business expenditure | £310 million |
| Day-visit expenditure | £136 million |
| Accommodation-sector spending from staying visitors | £126 million |
| Total economic impact from staying visitors | £372 million |
| Full-time equivalent jobs supported | 8,847 |
| Visitor days and nights | 11.4 million |
Yorkshire Dales influence area
Yorkshire Dales STEAM 2021 gives a broader measure for the Yorkshire Dales plus its influence area. The area recorded 8.3 million tourism visits in 2021. Staying visitors totalled 1.1 million and generated 4.2 million nights, while day visitors totalled 7.2 million.
Visitor and tourism business expenditure in the Yorkshire Dales plus influence area reached £662 million in 2021. Day visits generated £290 million. These wider-area totals are not interchangeable with the National Park-only figures because the geography is larger.
The comparison between the two geographies makes the scope difference clear: the National Park recorded 3.9 million tourism visits, compared with 8.3 million for the Dales plus influence area. National Park day visitors totalled 3.4 million, compared with 7.2 million across the wider area. Visitor and tourism business expenditure was £310 million in the National Park and £662 million in the influence area.
West Yorkshire visitor spending
The West Yorkshire DMP reports that all overnight visitors generated £619 million of spend in West Yorkshire in 2019. Tourism day visitors generated £1.665 billion, and all visitors generated £2.284 billion in direct expenditure.
Day visitors accounted for 72.9% of total visitor spend in West Yorkshire in 2019. The figures therefore show a visitor economy in which day travel represented the larger stated spending share during that measurement year.
The West Yorkshire DMP also records 2.548 million domestic overnight trips and 0.506 million international overnight trips in 2019. These are trip counts, while the spending figures are monetary measures; the two types of data describe different aspects of the West Yorkshire visitor market.
| West Yorkshire measure | 2019 figure |
|---|---|
| Overnight visitor spend | £619 million |
| Tourism day-visitor spend | £1.665 billion |
| Direct expenditure from all visitors | £2.284 billion |
| Share of spend from tourism day visitors | 72.9% |
| Domestic overnight trips | 2.548 million |
| International overnight trips | 0.506 million |
Taken together, the available figures cover different years and geographies: the inbound visitor profile uses 2022–24 for the visiting-friends-and-relatives measure, North Yorkshire monitoring covers 2024, Yorkshire Dales STEAM covers 2021, and the West Yorkshire DMP figures cover 2019. That distinction matters when comparing Yorkshire tourism statistics, because the measures are not a single-year regional total.