Council boss claims more people visit Doncaster for the day than Windsor, Bath and Oxford

Scott Cardwell, assistant director for development at Doncaster Council said the borough had a ‘incredibly high number’ of people visiting for the day. Data 

The comments came as cabinet members on Doncaster Council approved the borough’s first ‘visitor economy strategy’ on Tuesday. 

The document outlined plans on how to boost tourism, economic development, attract more visitors into Doncaster, increasing longer stays and getting existing residents more involved with events. 

Mr Cardwell later clarified he was referring to Visit England data from 2016 where it shows 6.4 million people came to Doncaster for the day. 

Doncaster’s favourable position on the East Coast Mainline and passengers changing trains is understood to be included in the figures. 

Mr Cardwell said: “Doncaster has incredibly high numbers of day trippers - we out perform places like Bath, Harrogate, Windsor and Oxford on a regular basis.

“What this strategy is trying to do is make Doncaster more of a destination which leads to more overnight stays and that is trying to make people aware of what we can offer people across the borough.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done but we’re in a much better position than places surrounding local authorities that just haven’t got the assets we have.”

Coun Bill Mordue, cabinet member for business and development said: “This document is critical for the continued economic renaissance of the borough. 

“It sets out the ambition to further develop the borough as a tourism destination including the hosting of major events. 

“We're all seeing the economic development in Doncaster such as the new Wool Market and that’s been a great success.

“The Doncaster day economy is absolutely massive but we need more people to stay overnight. We need to build on our assets we have because we have a growing reputation across the region as a destination.”