The head of the government’s tourism agency has warned that the high price of taking the train is putting off visitors getting out to see UK attractions outside of London.

VisitBritain chair, Christopher Rodrigues, said that regional tourism is suffering and that there was “still work to be done” to promote the country’s top attractions to international tourists.

When including businesses in the supply chain, the wider tourism economy is forecast to be contributing 9.9 per cent of GDP in 2025 and 4.m jobs, up from 9 per cent and 3.1m jobs in 2013.

Rodrigues however, says that British tourist attractions outside of London will not reap the benefit of this growth unless visitors are able to travel by rail at more affordable prices.

“If an American family of four turned up [to travel by rail], they would get two shocks. One, that our trains are pretty good. Two, that they cost a fortune,” he said. “We don’t have a good rail offering for visitors from abroad and that holds back tourists.”