TOURISM and Heritage Minister David Evennett visited Dartmoor National Park last Friday (June 10) to see how the park manages to attract 2.4-million visitors a year.

The minister was given a tour of the High Moorland Visitor Centre at Princetown by visitor services manager Richard Drysdale and heard how important the national park was to the Devon tourism industry.

Last year, 175,000 people visited the three visitor centres, Princetown, Postbridge and Haytor.

Princetown is the largest of the three and recently opened its new Heritage Lottery Funded interactive exhibit, ‘Discover Dartmoor’s Wild Stories’.

All three centres sell the Dartmoor Range, a range of local goods from soap to wool, honey to chillies, pottery to photography, made by small, local suppliers in or on the edge of Dartmoor.

In March the Government announced a new eight-point plan for National Parks.

Mr Evennett said: ‘National Parks are home to some of our most iconic landscapes and an important part of the English tourism offer.

‘Dartmoor National Park Authority is doing fantastic work in boosting the vital local tourism sector while conserving this beautiful environment so it can be enjoyed for generations to come.’

DNPA chairman Peter Harper said: ‘I am delighted we have been able to showcase our Princetown Visitor Centre. The work we do supporting Dartmoor’s tourism infrastructure, which includes not only our centres but also public rights of way and car parks, is a key part of our delivery of the Eight Point Plan.’

Tourism to Dartmoor is worth £120-million each year.