TWO hundred thousand more people came to the Yorkshire Dales National Park last year– and it wasn’t just the spectacle of the world’s biggest cycle race that attracted them.

And latest figures show the 3.7 million visitors contributed nearly £240 million to the local economy.

While the spectacle of the Tour de France Grand Départ pulled in thousands, the total number of visitors over the year was up by six per cent on 2013, according to a Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) report.

And in the wider Dales area – including neighbouring market towns – the figures were even more impressive.

The report shows that the 13.1 million days people spent in the area contributed more than £600 million to the local economy. Of these, 8.7 million were day visitors coming from nearby towns and cities and 4.4 million were visitors staying in the area.

Julie Barker, the national park authority’s head of recreation, tourism and outreach, said: “These figures are very encouraging because they show that the visitor economy within the area has grown over the last two years, with 2014 building on the 3.5 per cent increase already seen between 2012 and 2013.

“The figures for last year illustrate the influence of the Tour de France, which brought many more visitors to the area with an impressive 94 per cent saying they were likely to come back to the area.

“But, significantly, visitor numbers were up throughout the year – so this was not just a blip caused by the Tour weekend in July.”