New research commissioned by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has revealed that the heritage tourism industry contributes nearly £21bn towards the UK economy.

According to the Oxford Economics study, the sector is worth more to the UK in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) than the advertising, car manufacturing or film industries.

Commissioned in 2009, the HLF research explored how tourism visits and spending are driven by heritage and looked at a random sample of 62 schemes completed between 2004 and 2007.

Among the key findings is that more than 10 million holiday trips are taken by overseas visitors to the UK each year, with 40 per cent citing heritage as a primary reason for visiting the country.

The research found that heritage tourism is a £12.4bn a year industry, including the broader expenditure driven by a desire to visit heritage attractions, such as local restaurants and hotels.

Investing in success: Heritage and the UK tourism economy - which aims to build on work already commissioned by VisitBritain - has also revealed that heritage tourism supports 195,000 jobs.

HLF chair Dame Jenny Abramsky said: "We now have the figures to prove that heritage packs a substantial economic punch. Last year, domestic and overseas holiday visitor numbers grew as the wider UK economy was shrinking.

"Our museums, historic sites and landscapes, are proving to be an immense and essential attraction, bringing in new visitors and boosting local economies. As we all look to economic recovery, we must keep investing in heritage tourism so that it continues to flourish, bringing with it key economic benefits."

Since 1994, the HLF has invested £4.4bn in a number of UK heritage schemes and has found that visitor numbers show an average increase of 50 per cent at attractions that have benefited from HLF-funded projects.

Image: Glasgow's Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery has benefited from HLF funding in recent years - Glasgow City Council/Glasgow Museums