YORK’S museums are claiming a tourism triumph, after the recession failed to stop the number of visitors to the city’s heritage attractions soaring.

New figures drawn up for the first six months of this financial year by the York Museums Trust show a nine per cent increase in business – with 317,740 people pouring through their doors.

The rundown, which will go before City of York Council’s learning and culture overview and scrutiny committee on Thursday, states three of the city’s top tourist attractions all saw an increase in visitors between April and September.

Figures for York Castle Museum show numbers rose by 11 per cent year-on-year after the opening of its prison display in July, while the Yorkshire Museum reported a 16 per cent boost in visitors before the arrival of the Vale of York Viking Hoard – an ancient treasure collection worth more than £1 million – in September and a doubling of demand after the treasure went on show.

Meanwhile, visitors to York Art Gallery increased by nine per cent. The Trust’s chiefs – who welcomed 291,177 visitors between April and September last year – are predicting a 50 per cent rise in business during 2009/10 from hiring out the Yorkshire Museum for conferences and events such as weddings.

“This income stream will help fund capital projects in the Museum Gardens, Yorkshire Museum, York Art Gallery and the Castle Museum and will be ploughed back to improve the services we offer the public,” the organisation’s half-year performance update to the council states.

It said £1.89 million in funding for the Yorkshire Museum’s Letting In The Light refurbishment project – which will see the building closed until next August – had been secured and “robust” plans were in place to ensure the remaining £177,000 was also tied down.

York Theatre Royal has also produced a half-year report which shows it received a £110,000 grant from the Arts Council Sustain fund “to help us plug any gap (in income) resulting from any effect of economic downturn”.

It also revealed its 2009 production of The Railway Children, together with the National Railway Museum, attracted 26,236 visitors – 2,588 more than the previous year – and generated £1.7 million of national media coverage.

It adds: “We are exploring the possibility of another site-specific production in summer 2010.”