THE number of visitors to one of the region's great seats of religion jumped by 13 per cent last year.

York Minster rose 10 places to number 51 in the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions' annual survey of its top 237 sites in the United Kingdom with almost 692,000 visitors in 2017.

The Dean of York, the Very Reverend Vivienne Faull, said: "It is a great privilege to welcome so many visitors from all over the world and we are grateful to them for making the Minster one of the UK’s “must-see” destinations last year.”

She said that a turning point six years ago forced the Minster to overhaul its approach to customer service and visitor welcome.

“Back in 2012 we received just over 422,000 visitors and it became clear that we had to up our game and take a more active role in York’s thriving tourism economy.

"We developed strong links with city, regional, national and international tourism organisations to persuade visitors to come to the Minster, to the city of York and to explore the wider region."