TimeOut best city breaks: Yorkshire city named by TimeOut as one of the best city breaks - but it's not York

It was named second on the recently published list of 18 destinations that included Milan, Oslo, Liverpool, Dublin and Valencia.

Describing Sheffield, judge Daniel Dylan Wray said : “Combine the lush greenery – and proximity to the Peak District – with a vibrant city rich in culture, food and drink, and you have two kinds of holiday wrapped into one.”

It comes as city leaders look to boost tourism by getting accredited by the Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP), according to a recent council report.

Emma France, head of service marketing, said the city attracted 17.92 million leisure and business tourism visits, generating £1.37 billion directly and indirectly into the local economy, in 2019 but Covid-19 and the cost of living crisis had since hit the sector hard.

She said: “Attracting more leisure and business day visitors and staying visitors, and their spending, to Sheffield should generate additional income for local businesses, support business productivity and profitability, create, support and safeguard local employment, and generate other positive economic and social impacts… Sheffield has an opportunity with LVEP status to trail blaze the way for a long-term South Yorkshire solution for the visitor economy.”

LVEPs will be tier two of a new national structure for tourism. Council officers said gaining this accreditation will enable Sheffield to be recognised by Visit Britain, Visit England and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport within the new model.

“The accreditation as an LVEP will formalise, rather than change, the nature of Marketing Sheffield’s remit and provide additional opportunity to access funding and support from private sector and central government sources,” Ms France said.

If successful, officers said LVEP status would put Sheffield in a better position to grow the volume and value of visitors to the city.

Without the accreditation, the council said Sheffield would “lose its seat at the table” within the new national framework, adding: “Sheffield will disappear from the national agenda for tourism.”

Members of the economic development and skills committee are due to discuss and approve the plans in a meeting on Wednesday, January 18.