The top destinations for days out by rail across the North of England have been revealed by the train operator Northern.
They are (in alphabetical order): Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Preston, Sheffield and York.
The train operator has also released details of where visitors are travelling from to explore the eight cities.
Hull’s day visitors are travelling by rail from (in order of popularity) Leeds, Beverley, York, Sheffield and Bridlington – meanwhile, Leeds is attracting those from York, Manchester Victoria, Sheffield, Harrogate and Wakefield Westgate.
Liverpool’s day trippers are coming from Wigan, Huyton, Manchester Piccadilly, Preston and Manchester Oxford Road.
Manchester’s visitor economy market is being fuelled by people travelling from Stockport, Manchester Airport, Preston, Sheffield and Bolton (into Manchester Piccadilly) and from Leeds, Rochdale, Bradford Interchange, Bolton and Stalybridge (into Manchester Victoria).
In the North East, people heading for a day out in Newcastle are mostly from Carlisle, followed by Hexham, Middlesbrough, Morpeth and Hartlepool.
Preston is popular with leisure travellers from Manchester, with three of the city’s stations in their top five, those being: Manchester Piccadilly, Blackpool North, Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Airport and Manchester Oxford Road.
Visitors to Sheffield are travelling from Doncaster, Leeds, Meadowhall, Manchester Piccadilly and Barnsley – while those heading for a day out in York are most likely to have come from Leeds, Harrogate, Hull, Selby and Knaresborough.
Alex Hornby, commercial and customer director at Northern, said: “There are so many great places to visit across the North of England – and what better way to get there than by rail.
“The leisure travel market is stronger than ever, with more and more people taking advantage of great value Advance Purchase fares to get out and explore the region.
“The ‘staycation’ is now an established part of the tourism industry and we are proud to work with tourist boards across our network to encourage people to travel there by rail.”
Manchester Airport was also one of the train operator’s top destinations for people travelling from Manchester Piccadilly, Liverpool Lime Street, Preston, Crewe and Manchester Oxford Road.
Hornby added: “For those not ‘holidaying at home’ it’s great that they’re still using the rail network to get them to the airport.”
The data has been released during English Tourism Week (14-23 March), a Visit England campaign to highlight the contribution that tourism in England makes to the UK economy.
For more information, visit: visitbritain.org/working-us/english-tourism-week.
