AS the number of foreign visitors to Yorkshire showed a fall in 2017, by contrast Skipton and the Yorkshire Dales saw an upwards trend in general visitors.

Yorkshire recorded a four percent fall during 2016-2017, while overall visitor footfall in Skipton was on the increase and visitors to the Yorkshire Dales National Park rose by 4.3 percent on 2015-2016.

Craven Councillor Simon Myers, Lead Member for Enterprising Craven said: “We are finding that international visitors are staying for longer and spending more which is great news.

"We know locally that visitor numbers in Skipton are increasing so it is very pleasing to hear that spend in the region is up so that the local tourism businesses see the benefit of the increased numbers.”

A YDNP spokesman said visitor numbers to the Yorkshire Dales National Park were up by 4.3 percent from 2015 to 2016 and the economic impact of tourism had risen consistently between 2009 and 2016.

"So when a comparison is made between 2016 to 2012 there has been an increase of 15.9 percent above the 2012 levels."

"We rely on the research from the Government tourism agencies Visit England and Visit Britain. And for the regional picture we would look to our partners in the Destination Management Organisations, Welcome to Yorkshire and Cumbria Tourism.

"However we work closely with the agencies and we are currently working collectively with the English national parks and the Destination Management organisations on a Discover England project “Make great memories in England’s National Parks”.

The Discover England fund was aimed at attracting overseas visitors and this particular project aimed to work with local businesses in the Dales and the overseas travel trade and create compelling world-class visitor experiences within the National Parks. It was looking to attract visitors from Germany and Australia initially.

"More overseas visitors coming to see what is special about the Yorkshire Dales National park will be great for local businesses and the Dales tourism economy "We hope that this together with the work being carried out by the national park to encourage visitors to come back for another visit outside the traditional tourist season will be a boost for the economy.

"Some of the projects we have developed to assist with this includes the Dark Skies festival in February half term and in September this year we had our first Cheese Festival .

"We hope that this investment will result in continue growth for the Dales tourism economy in 2018 and beyond," he said.

Andy Swinscoe of The Courtyard Dairy at Austwick.

He said: “We’re getting a good amount of European visitors, who are visiting Craven, Yorkshire Dales then on to the Lakes. They seem to seek us out, and enjoy shopping for proper farmhouse British cheese, which quite a few of them weren't even aware existed.”

Official statistics recently released show that in the first nine months of 2017 - as the pound slumped in value - there were a record 12.7 million visits to English regions outside London, up four percent compared to the same period in 2016.

Overall, there were a record 30.1 million inbound visits to the UK from January to September 2017, up seven percent on the same period the previous year.

Yorkshire as a whole attracted 1,054 foreign visitors compared to 1,098 in 2016. The only other region seeing a fall was the East Midlands, by five percent.

Nationwide there was a record 268,000 visits from China, up 33 percent and spending up 48 percent to a record £557 million.

Record spend was seen from visitors from Germany who spent £1.3 billion in the UK, up five percent with visits up two percent to 2.6 million. There were a record 1.9 million overseas visits from Spain, up 11 percent and visitor spending up 14 percent to £861 million.

VisitBritain Director, Patricia Yates said: “Boosting inbound tourism throughout Britain is at the heart of our work, so it is very encouraging to see the growth across our nations and regions.

"Tourism is one of our most valuable export industries and we are forecasting that growth will continue in 2018, with 41.7 million overseas visits to the UK and visitors spending almost £27 billion."