A YORK-based developer of tourist attractions across the country is expecting tickets sales at its newest creation to top £5 million in its first six months as the business continues its growth plans.

Continuum Leading Attractions, based in Margaret Street, is working towards increasing its annual visitor numbers at its seven sites from one million to four million.

Over the next five years, bosses also plan to expand their portfolio to 15 attractions.

The growth plans come off the back of the company’s recent success with its latest attraction, Coronation Street The Tour, in Manchester.

The attraction, which opened in April, is the result of a collaboration between Continuum and ITV and has proved an immediate hit.

More than half the initially available 300,000 tickets were pre-sold, and Continuum said total sales for the initial six months of the tour were likely to top £5 million.

Up to 2,200 Corrie fans are flocking to see the old Weatherfield set each day.

Juliana Delaney, chief executive of Continuum Leading Attractions, said: “This is the highest profile visitor attraction we’ve ever been involved in, and we want to use it as a platform for significant growth over the next few years.

“‘We don’t do theme park and we don’t do culture that is stuffy, elitist or boring. We focus on using Britain’s rich and real cultural heritage to create memorable experiences for visitors.”

Thirty years ago, the privately-owned Continuum was behind the development of the Jorvik Centre in York and has helped create more than 100 visitor attractions worldwide over the past 30 years.

It currently operates seven cultural attractions across the UK, including York’s Chocolate Story, Oxford Castle Unlocked, the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth and The Real Mary King’s Close in Edinburgh.

The group has a turnover of more than £12 million and employs more than 400 tourism professionals across its UK sites.

Mrs Delaney added: “I expect that well over one million people will visit our attractions this year, but our goal is for that to grow to more than four million over the next few years.

“We’re particularly keen to work with local authorities to help make publicly-owned cultural assets commercially viable and sustainable.”