The Impact of Tourism
STEAM
STEAM (Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor) is a tourism economic impact modelling process which approaches the measurement of tourism from the bottom up, through its use of local supply side data and tourism performance and visitor survey data collection.
STEAM quantifies the local economic impact of tourism, from both staying and day visitors, through analysis and use of a variety of inputs including visitor attraction numbers, tourist accommodation bed stock, events attendance, occupancy levels, accommodation tariffs, macroeconomic factors, visitor expenditure levels, transport use levels and tourism-specific economic multipliers.
At the start of each year, we work with Global Tourism Solutions to gather the required data which includes a survey to collect monthly visitor figures from our attractions. Your input into this is invaluable.
Due to the volume and complexity of data used to compile our annual STEAM report, new reports are received between May and June of the following year.
The 2025 STEAM report will be available to download soon.
2025 STEAM Headlines:
- North Yorkshire’s visitor economy generated £4.3 billion, up 1.1% vs. 2024*
- North Yorkshire welcomed 31.2 million people (down 3% vs. 2024)
- 25m day visitors (down 5% vs. 2024), with 48.6 million visitor days recorded
- 6.2m total staying visitors, up 2.7% versus 2024
- Average length of stay was 4 nights
- Staying visitors generated £2.867bn of economic impact, an increase of 2.7% against 2024
- The Visitor Economy supports 36,781 total Full Time Equivalent jobs
2025 town level data for Filey, Harrogate, Nidderdale National Landscape, Northallerton, Ripon, Scarborough, Selby, Settle, Skipton and Whitby is available upon request; please contact us at biz@visitnorthyorkshire.com.
*In historic prices, not adjusted for inflation
2025 STEAM overview
North Yorkshire welcomed 31.2 million visitors in 2025, including both day and overnight visitors, generating £4.263 billion for the visitor economy. Despite ongoing economic pressures and changing consumer spending patterns, the sector continues to make a significant contribution to communities, businesses and jobs across the county.
36,781 people are employed in full-time equivalent roles supported by North Yorkshire’s visitor economy and its wider supply chains.
More than 5 million visitors stayed overnight in North Yorkshire during 2025, generating £2.867 billion of economic impact, while day visitors contributed £1.396 billion. In total, visitors spent 48.68 million visitor days enjoying the county’s coast, countryside, market towns and attractions.
The strongest area of growth was non-serviced accommodation, where visitor numbers increased by 7.3% compared with 2024, highlighting continued demand for self-catering, holiday parks and other alternative accommodation options.
The latest STEAM data shows the visitor economy remains resilient, while also reinforcing the importance of Visit North Yorkshire’s Destination Management Plan (DMP). The DMP provides the framework to focus on value, year-round demand, product, place, people and data, ensuring the county develops a sustainable, high-quality visitor economy that delivers benefits for residents, businesses and visitors alike.
STR
STR (Smith Travel Research) is a benchmarking tool that provides accommodation performance insight including occupancy and revenue per available room.
We use STR to monitor the progress of our target to increase overnight visitors to North Yorkshire. Overnight visitors increased by 2.7% in 2025, and was up from 18% to 20% as a proportion of overall visitor numbers.
By analysing this data on a monthly basis, we can compare occupancy and revenue per available room to previous years and better understand visitor trends.