YEP says: £1.7bn is a good reason to care about tourism in Leeds

They enthused about the food, the city and the countryside and the “super-friendliness” of the people.

But why should you care what they think? Why should our council put effort into enticing these young things with their Instagram accounts to our city, when it could be concentrating on fixing problems like bin collections or homelessnees. Because it brings money into our local economy that’s why, and we should encourage more of it.

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If Leeds is not seen as a weekend destination, it should be.

Leeds Bradford Airport certainly has plans to bring more people to the area, great efforts are being made to encourage businesses to set up home here and avail themselves of our workforce and our cheaper-than-London office rents.

But with tourism at an all-time high in Leeds now is not the time to sit back, it’s time for action to encourage more visitors. Last year the number of people visiting Leeds soared to over 29million and that and helps to generate more than £1.7bn for the local economy.

It’s not a sum to be sniffed at, and part of that money will trickle into the council’s coffers in taxes and rents to enable it to afford other improvements to life for those who live and work here.

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