The Telegraph: The Telegraph

Home to the Yorkshire Dales National Park, the historic city of York and the Jorvik Viking Centre, the county was given the accolade at the 19th World Travel Awards.

The award was voted for by travel agents around the world and reflects the fact that more than 216 million people visit Yorkshire each year. The other nominees in full were Cornwall, Cumbria, Devon, Northumberland, the Peak District, Scotland and Wales.

Gary Verity, the chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said: “The win is testament to all the thousands of fantastic businesses we have in Yorkshire that time and again put the county on the map for millions of holidaymakers, not just in Britain, but the world over.”

Figures for the first nine months of last year showed a 12 per cent increase in visits to Yorkshire by international tourists.