Yorkshire has been officially named as the best place to spend your holiday within the UK, in the 19th international World Travel Awards.
The Northern county (pictured so beautifully, above, by Keith Laverack) faced some tricky competition from the likes of Cornwall, Cumbria, Wales, Devon and the Peak District.
However, Yorkshire’s rolling hills, picturesque villages and historic towns and cities saw it scoop the coveted award.
The region is already one of the most popular holiday spots in the UK, attracting more than 216 million visitors each year.
We’ve featured Yorkshire in these posts: Lighter footprint holidays – Eco-house stays, Let’s get physical – Top UK adventure races and Downton Abbey – become a lord or lady of the manor at these 5 historic estates.
We also wrote about The Deep during the Olympics: Torch coral at The Deep – a natural Olympic Torch for London2012.
The first nine months of last year saw a 12 per cent increase in the number of foreign visitors to Yorkshire.
“The win is testament to all the thousands of fantastic businesses we have in Yorkshire that time and again put the county on the map for millions of holidaymakers, not just in Britain, but the world over,” said Gary Verity, chief executive of Yorkshire tourist board Welcome to Yorkshire.
Yorkshire has long held a reputation as an excellent tourist hotspot. The county has a tourism industry worth around £7 billion which supports around 250,000 jobs.
Attractions such as the historic city of York, along with the Jorvik Viking Centre, and the beautiful Yorkshire Dales National Park keep visitors coming back year after year.
The Welcome to Yorkshire campaign has a history of success at the World Travel Awards, having won five gongs in the last five years.
This year the tourist board also picked up the Marketing Innovation award for its work promoting Yorkshire.
“We have beaten whole countries to win the main award, places with bigger marketing budgets than us, and proved why Yorkshire is the best holiday destination in the UK,” added Mr Verity.
“The marketing innovation award just goes to show the work we do on behalf of the Yorkshire tourism industry to keep the county at the forefront of people’s minds, which is especially important in these tough economic times.”
Yorkshire beat stiff competition from Barcelona, Scotland, Venice and Berlin to land the Tour de France Grand Depart next year (5th and 6th July).
Here are some of Yorkshire’s most famous attractions:
