Yorkshire has been named as one of the world’s top destinations.

And that’s in no small part to next year’s hosting of the Tour de France Grand Depart.

The Lonely Planet Travel Guide has named the county as the third best region in the world in its 2014 book.

The only destinations beating Yorkshire are Sikkim in India and The Kimberley in Australia.

Lonely Planet says the county has performed so well due to excitement about the Yorkshire leg of next summer’s Tour de France and the impressive gold medal haul from Yorkshire athletes in last summer’s Olympics and Paralympics, including Lothersdale archer Danielle Brown.

The top ten was decided by Lonely Planet’s authors, editors and online community, and the final selection and ranking was made by a panel of in-house experts.

Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive, Gary Verity, said: “Endorsements rarely come much better than this, from a guide that has a worldwide reputation.”