Worthy winners

THE White Rose Awards are always a welcome night for Yorkshire, celebrating an industry which undoubtedly brings a huge amount of prestige and investment to this proud region.

This year’s winners’ list reveals another array of outstanding hotels, pubs and attractions which pull in huge numbers of people to Yorkshire each year, helping to showcase its natural beauty and urban vibrancy to the wider world.

There is no doubt that the awards’ organisers, Welcome to Yorkshire, have overseen a quiet revolution in tourism in this region since the body’s inception. Visits to Yorkshire are up 16 per cent this year, in what amounts to a minor boom amidst the economic gloom.

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So as the glittering awards were handed out last night, it is a matter of regret that a shadow hangs over the future of the tourism body.

Welcome to Yorkshire faces a dramatic funding cut next year, and for all the ambitious talk of smarter spending and new funding streams, the concern is that its reach must ultimately become much more limited.

It is now down to the private sector to fill in those gaps – for this is an industry upon which our regional economy increasingly relies.