Tourism in Cheshire and Warrington now makes up more than 10% of the area’s economy as it showed the tourism industry grew 7.7% in 2012.
Visitors to the area spent GBP213.45 million on accommodation last year, as well as GBP105.17m on attractions; GBP963m on shopping and GBP509.42m on food and drink.
In contrast tourism in the whole north west area had dipped 3.7% year-on-year, with shopping helping numbers in Cheshire the most.
“We have some great shopping in and around Chester but also some lovely market towns such as Nantwich and some “supervillages” like Tarporley and Alderley Edge with excellent retail and leisure. And while the area’s day trip market is strong, there are still plenty of opportunities for overnight growth linked to existing and new events and festivals,” said Katrina Michel, chief executive at Marketing Cheshire. “It’s also encouraging to see a continuing resurgence in business tourism as the economy comes out of recession.”
The organisation has signalled further growth could come from the wedding and groups market although would need more high quality self-catering accommodation.
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