VISIT York’s annual figures for 2010 have shown “positive results” for most of York’s tourism industry.

The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) revealed last week that York’s National Railway Museum had seen a drop in visitors of 16 per cent in 2010.

However, Visit York’s figures show that most other attractions in York exceeded 2009.

York Dungeon increased visitors by 14 per cent, Clifford’s Tower by 11 per cent, the Castle Museum by 9 per cent and Jorvik by 3 per cent, excluding January when it was closed.

The Yorkshire Museum increased visits by 165 per cent compared to a like-for-like five-moth period in 2008, before its refurbishment.

Visit York’s figures, measured by calendar year, showed York Minster’s visitors had dropped by 1 per cent, although ALVA’s figures, from April to March, showed a 2.5 per cent decrease.

Hotel occupancy figures stayed constant with a 1 per cent increase taking occupancy to an average of 78.8 per cent, the highest occupancy since the survey began in 2007. The UK Occupancy Survey measured the England average occupancy at 63 per cent.

Occupancy peaked in York in September at 88 per cent and the spring half term was 10 per cent up on 2009, although the bad weather caused a dip of 15 per cent in December.

The average room rate in York for 2010 was £78.21, on a par with 2009.

Gillian Cruddas MBE, chief executive of Visit York, said: “These are positive results given the challenging economic climate. Room rates have held strong and occupancy levels are up on the previous year. Visits to attractions are on the whole extremely positive and we are confident that visits to the National Railway Museum will increase again this year with the return of locomotive legend Flying Scotsman from restoration, their Easter Japan Festival and the opening of a purpose-built art gallery this summer.”