Promoting Heritage Open Days at Norwich railway station. Joy Evitt, Bernadette Bagg and Sophie Cabot. Photo: Bill Smith

Norwich’s annual Heritage Open Days brought an economic boost of almost £200,000 to the area by encouraging people to explore the city.

Newly released research by Heritage Economic And Regeneration Trust (Heart), which organises the four-day event each September that gives people free access to heritage sites, said last year’s open day events were enjoyed by more than 43,000 visitors making more than 150,000 visits between September 6 and 9, and that visitor feedback suggested they spent £188,770 locally on transport, food, souvenirs and accommodation.

Eleven percent of visitors came from outside Norfolk, and 2pc were from overseas.

The open days included 144 events supported by 893 volunteers – and now Heart is looking for more heritage or cultural sites to get involved and make the 2013 Heritage Open Days an even bigger event.

Heart chief executive Michael Loveday said the figures were “fantastic news” and showed how heritage plays an important role in the local economy.

He added Heart’s first international Culture Matters conference in November, which saw nearly 200 people across the world take part, also contributed more than £70,000 to the local economy.

Looking ahead to the 2013 Heritage Open Days from September 12 to 15, Mr Loveday said they hoped to make this year’s event even bigger and were looking for new venues to take part.

For more information visit www.heritagecity.org