Lancaster continues to prove appealing to overseas visitors, with the Tourist Information Centre’s visitors book indicating that the historic city remains ever popular with visitors from all four corners of the globe.
During an end of year review of the book by tourism officers based at Lancaster TIC on Castle Hill, comments showed that of the 132 overseas visitors who signed the book during 2007, 26 per cent came from 15 different states of the USA and five of Canada’s provinces were represented in the 14 per cent of overseas visitors who came here from Canada.
12 per cent of visitors to Lancaster TIC were from Spain, outnumbering the 11 per cent who came from Australia. Other larger numbers came from New Zealand (6 per cent) and Germany (5 per cent) in addition to visitors from as far away as Hong Kong and Mexico.
The new on-line shopping facility which became available last month on Lancaster City Council’s tourism website is also showing interest from abroad. An order was recently placed by a lady in Philadelphia, USA, for Barry Guise’s new book The Midland Hotel, Morecambe’s White Hope.
“Although this is only a small sample of our visitors, it is clear that overseas visitors enjoy the history of the area and may sometimes be here to trace their roots,” feels Coun Abbott Bryning, cabinet member with responsibility for tourism in Lancaster.
“The city has a rich heritage and it is good to see this being appreciated by people from such a wide range of cultures and backgrounds. I am sure that the numbers of visitors from abroad and from across Britain will increase as regeneration proceeds and the new Visitor Information Centre in The Storey building is opened ready for 2009”.
• For a programme of events for the year, information about everything to see and do in the Lancaster district and ideas for short breaks, visit virtual-lancaster or Lancaster City Council’s tourism website: www.citycoastcountryside.