WITH the Tour de France in North Yorkshire, we expected visitor numbers to increase last year and new figures from Visit York reveal the city to have enjoyed a record year for hotel occupancy.

Best of all, the momentum continued to close with a strong festive season.

It's not quite a record year. Not surprisingly 2013 and the Mallard 75 event at the National Railway Museum secured top spot and will be hard to beat. But 2014 takes second place and with tourism being a major part of York's economy, this is welcome news.

Good for Harrogate, too, which earned £19.2 million from the Grand Départ.

But there is more to celebrate. Tucked away from the headlines is an extraordinary fact, courtesy of Kate McMullen, head of Visit York. She says tourism revenue exceeded £300 million for the first time in 2005, now we are well on the way to doubling that figure.

With the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire just weeks away who knows, this might be the year we do.