NEW research has shown that tourism is now worth £8 billion to the Yorkshire economy.

The news was revealed at Welcome to Yorkshire's Y18 conference at Bradford this week - where champion cyclist Lizzie Deignan, from Otley, was among the guest speakers.

The figures come from new independent research by Sheffield Hallam University - and represent a 14 per cent increase since the last report in 2011, when regional tourism was worth £7 billion.

Welcome to Yorkshire also unveiled multi-million pound marketing campaigns to further boost tourism in future years at the conference, which took place at the Alhambra Theatre on Wednesday, March 21.

Lizzie meanwhile, the reigning Asda Women’s Tour de Yorkshire Champion, was on stage as it was revealed that the 2019 UCI Road World Cycling Championships will start in Bradford.

She also talked about her role as Ambassador of the new Cycle Expo Yorkshire, which is expected to see some 20,000 cycling fans descend on Harrogate in October.

Welcome to Yorkshire's Chief Executive, Sir Gary Verity, said: "What an epic event it has been - I couldn’t have wished for a better day for our 10th Y conference.

"This has been a fantastic showcase for Yorkshire where we’ve made some huge announcements that shows once again Yorkshire is leading the way."