North Yorkshire coast 'among most visited destinations'

More British holidaymakers visit the North Yorkshire coast than any other part of the country outside London, according to tourist figures.

Visit England looked at trips made to English towns and cities over a three-year period from 2013 to 2015.

The figures are based on the Borough of Scarborough, including Filey, Whitby and parts of the North York Moors National Park.

The area had on average 1.4m trips per year over the period.

This contrasted with 3.7m visits to London, and 594,000 to Skegness. Scarborough Council said the figures showed the area was "really punching above its weight".

Scarborough is among the most visited resorts

Blackpool was third on Visit England's Great Britain Tourism Survey list, with 1.1 m trips per year and a spend of £240,000 per year over the period.

The North York Moors Railway crosses the national park, from Pickering to Whitby via Goathland

According to Visit England's Great Britain Tourism Survey, holidaymakers to the area brought £294m a year between 2013 and 2015.

Crowds lined Scarborough's Marine Drive for the finish of the 2016 Tour de Yorkshire

Sir Gary Verity, of Welcome to Yorkshire, said: "Seeing Scarborough in the top five of England's most visited destinations is terrific news.

"The Tour de Yorkshire has been through the borough during both the 2015 and 2016 races, attracting huge crowds and global TV coverage in 177 countries - not only money-can't-buy publicity, but really shows that both the Scarborough Borough and Yorkshire can host world-class events."

Whitby, with its Abbey, links to Dracula author Bram Stoker and replica of Captain Cook's HMS Bark Endeavour, is a popular destination

Mr Verity said recent statistics showed county-wide, domestic overnight trips to Yorkshire had grown by 20% in 2015, one of the largest increases among regions in England.

Staithes fishing village near Whitby is the location for CBeebies' Old Jack's Boat

The seaside resort of Filey is included in the Borough of Scarborough figures