Tourists spent more than £254 million in York last year.

The huge figure shows an increase of 24 per cent in only six years.

Assessment of last year's impact of York's biggest industry also showed it was responsible for 8,857 jobs last year, up 5.4 per cent from 1993, the year used for comparing tourism trends.

The findings show York as an excellent place for investment, chairman of the York Tourism Bureau Gillian Cruddas said.

"Developers look at figures like these when they look at the viability of places, and the suggestion is that York has tremendous potential," she said.

"These figures look good, and that is reinforced by investment being made by existing attractions and hotels, and new ones moving into the city."

The assessment also shows that the length of time visitors stay in the city is increasing, an area which the Tourism Bureau has recently targeted.

Day visits have gone up by 6.5 per cent since 1993. Last year, 5,258,000 visitors spent a day in the city.

adam.nichols@ycp.co.uk