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NEWS www.travelweeklyweb.com Welcome to Yorkshire Gary Verity, CE, Welcome to Yorkshire. £7 billion, which is more than the whole tourism expenditure in Ireland or Denmark. The tourism industry employs nearly a quarter of a million people." Some 90 per cent of its arrivals are for leisure Castle Howard, Yorkshire. SINGAPORE – Familiar with Yorkshire? Perhaps the closest we know is the beautiful Yorkshire terrier or Yorkshire pudding. How about its English landscape, which provided the inspiration of one of Britain's greatest artist – Turner, and whose work introduced people to the beauty of the countryside and its rugged coastline. Its dramatic hills, moorlands and dales draw visitors. While Turner painted, his contemporaries Wordsworth and Coleridge wrote poetically about the landscape. Welcome to Yorkshire – that is indeed the name of its off icial destination management agency. Yorkshire comprises Leeds, Shelfi ed, Bradford, Hull, York, Wakefield and Ripon and its arrival fi gure of 216 million in 2009 speak volumes of how attractive it is as a tourist destination. The county boasts of many fine abbeys and castles… from the medieval fortresses of Bolton Castle to the elegant Harewood House.It has three National parks including the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors, and offers 60 gardens to visitors. It boasts of six Michelin starred restaurants – more than any area outside London. It claims that no other region in the UK is as passionate about horse racing The county is synonymous with the sport of kings, and has nine top class courses – more than any other region in the UK – holding over 170 meetings each year. Yorkshire is also where Captain Cook set sail on his discovery voyage to Australia and New Zealand, and where Bram Stoker was inspired to write Dracula. It is also known as being home to Charlotte and Emily Bronte who wrote Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Welcome to Yorkshire's CE, Gary Verity in a visit to Singapore (to meet its sponsored yacht on one of its designated stops on the 40,000 mile Clipper Round-the-World Yacht Race) pointed out some amazing facts and how big tourism is for the county. "Yorkshire is the largest county in England. Tourism in Yorkshire & Humber is worth over Project Love Sneaker benefi ts Himalayan porters SINGAPORE – Some 100 porters in the East Himalaya recently received more than 1000 pairs of used, pre-loved sports shoes a – a result of a joint collaboration by the Singapore offi ce of Jet Airways, India's premier airline and Running Lab, a specialty running store which retails technically advanced running apparel, equipment and footwear. 8 | ■ TRAVELWEEKLY ASIA | 07 FEBRUARY 2012 Project Love Sneaker was a one-month drive by Running Lab to encourage the donation of used sneakers in exchange for gift vouchers. The fi rst batch of sneakers was delivered by Jet Airways in December through a group of students from the Singapore Management University (SMU) to the porters and drivers based in the popular Sandakphu trek on the Singalila ridge. www.travelweeklyweb.com and the rest is business (corporate and MICE). According to Welcome to Yorkshire, its 216 million visitor arrivals for 2009 (up 10 per cent on 2008) is equivalent to the total number of visitors to Walt Disney Attraction Theme Parks worldwide. Yorkshire & Humber attracts 15 million overnight staying visitors (equivalent to 48 million nights) in the region every year, worth nearly £2.6 billion to the economy. Overseas visitors contribute a further 3.2 million trips (13 million nights) and generate £637 million a year. Day visits make up the largest proportion of the Yorkshire & Humber Tourism economy, worth a massive £3.9 billion to the region every year with over 194 million visitors. Business trips represent a signifi cant propor- tion of the tourism market, making up 19 per cent of all overnight trips in the region and accounting for a quarter of all spending equivalent to £1.6 billion a year. Welcome to Yorkshire recently won the prestigious World Travel Award for the World's Leading Marketing Campaign – for the second time in consecutive years.

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