A RECORD ten million visitors a year are now visiting the North York Moors National Park, but they are taking their toll.

New figures show a five per cent rise in visitor days spent in the Park, with 67 per cent of the ten million making day visits, says Bill Breakell, head of Tourism for the Park Authority.

However, while their spending amounted to over £177 million, and provided valuable employment and economic benefits, there are negative impacts, he said.

"Ten million people put a strain on many parts of the environment" he added. "Over 90 per cent of visitors come by car, so it is not surprising that visitors and local residents agree that traffic is the greatest threat to the special qualities of the park," said Mr Breakell.

He said that August last year saw a record 1.4 million visits made in a peak holiday month - 56 visitors for every one of the resident population. "Even in January there were 372,000 visits".

Mr Breakell said the park authority's traffic and transport initiatives such as the Moorsbus network were aimed at easing the traffic pressure on the vast park.

"The sheer number of tourists affects the environment in other ways" said Mr Breakell.

"Some of the more popular walking routes now need extra management, such as improved surfacing or drainage. There is always concern for more fragile parts of the environment and some of the rarer species for which the Moors are famous".

He said the number of visitors also had a social impact, both on other visitors who went in search of peace and tranquillity, and on the local population.

Visitors spend £38 millions on food and drink with a further £25 million on shopping, while day visitors spent a total of £79 million last year.

"The North York Moors now has the most complete information on visitor trends of any national park showing that tourism is now the main influence in the local economy".

Mr Breakell said that tourism had overtaken the traditional industries of the park - farming, forestry and coastal fishing. He said that research showed that six per cent of visitors to the park were from overseas. He said the poor summer had had an impact this year with traffic figures being down in April, May and June, but up in January, February and March.

Picture - The peace and tranquility of the Moors may be under threat from the large numbers of visitors