Gary Verity: Yorkshire's gearing up to beat its own personal best

However the subsequent weakening of the pound has delivered a fantastic boost to UK tourism, with Yorkshire at its heart.

Last year, our county enjoyed the best summer on record for international visitors. The six months from April to September 2016 saw, on average, an 11 per cent increase in international visits. Many of our hotels, guest houses and B&Bs benefited from big booking increases over the summer with a 21 per cent rise in overnight stays. All these extra visitors meant a huge £330m was spent in Yorkshire by international tourists in just six months.

Following the Brexit vote, we urged people to ‘keep calm and carry on’ and our fantastic Yorkshire businesses have done just that. They have pulled together and supported each other like never before and have been rewarded with these spectacular visitor numbers.

Among the many draws of the county are our wonderful literary heroes, like the Brontë sisters and James Herriot. They have played their part in boosting visitor numbers, making Yorkshire the top county for holidays with a literary link.

There has also been national recognition for Hebden Bridge which, after horrendous flooding over Christmas 2015, came back fighting and was awarded Best Small Market Town at the Great British High Street Awards, with Pateley Bridge taking home the crown for Best Village. And let’s not forget Scarborough was named as the most popular visitor destination outside London – and Yorkshire hit the national and international headlines when it beat countries to be awarded the 2019 UCI Road World Championships. A major coup for team Yorkshire.

These are just a few of Yorkshire’s success stories of the last year and shows just how much we can achieve when we are ambitious, resilient and pull together.

We will not rest on our laurels – we need to keep Yorkshire a number one destination to attract even more visitors. To do this, we’ve got some spectacular things in the pipeline to keep Yorkshire front of mind and elevate the county’s reputation to new heights.

The Tour de Yorkshire returns to the county’s roads next month. In just two years, I’m proud to see it has become one of the biggest and best races on the professional cycling calendar.

In fact, it’s now so popular we have increased the number of teams taking part in both the men’s and women’s race from 33 to 36 – these will be revealed at our tourism conference Y17 today.

None of this would be possible without the invaluable support of Asda who have well and truly thrown their weight behind our vision. Without them, there would never have been an opportunity to revolutionise women’s cycling.

However it’s not just about the race, it’s also about the legacy and the ripple effect the Tour has on communities across the county. The Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries are a fantastic example of this. The world’s first bike bank scheme, it aims to give all children in Yorkshire access to a bike regardless of their circumstances. So far, we have given children more than 36,000 chances to ride a bike, which is truly incredible.

Over the last few months, the Welcome to Yorkshire team has delivered dozens of roadshows to more than 1,000 people, helping residents make the most of the race coming through their communities.

We’ve also brought back our hugely popular land art competition back. We’re encouraging people to once again come together to create fantastic pieces of art and really show the world what Yorkshire has to offer. It’s not just cycling that brings in the visitors. Arts and culture are playing a huge part in boosting Yorkshire’s profile on the world stage too.

The fascinating story of Yorkshire’s Calendar Girls is being told in the West End in Gary Barlow and Tim Firth’s astounding new musical, The Girls. Their amazing tale, which began in the tiny North Yorkshire village of Rylstone, is now receiving rave reviews and nominations for three prestigious Olivier Awards.

This year is also Hull’s time to shine as the UK City of Culture. An exciting 365-day programme of transformative cultural events is ensuring the city enjoys a truly unforgettable year.

Another showstopper is our garden at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Named ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ our most ambitious show garden yet will showcase Yorkshire’s iconic and spectacular coastline in the heart of the capital.

Entries also open today for our White Rose Awards – the biggest tourism event of its kind in the UK – so it’s a great opportunity for our tourism businesses to really fly the flag for Yorkshire.

This is just a snapshot of some of the exciting plans ahead to put Yorkshire on show, raise its profile even higher and make the county an even better place to live, work and visit.

There is a real buzz around the county, determined to have another record-breaking year. With the pride, ambition and true determination of Yorkshire’s people, there is nothing we can’t achieve.

Sir Gary Verity is chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire.