OXFORDSHIRE’S picturesque countryside, rich history and thriving city centre proved to be a stronger magnet for tourists again last year.

Latest figures show the county welcomed an extra 200,000 visitors in 2014 bringing the total tally of vacationers and daytrippers to 26.7 million. Top attraction in the city and second in the whole of the South East was the Ashmolean.

Experience Oxfordshire, which promotes and develops leisure, business and cultural tourism in the county, commissioned the figures from Tourism South East.

It said 24.1 million visitors took day trips and there was a small increase in people who stayed in the county – 2.6 million visitors stayed at least one night.

Tourists spent £1.86bn locally, £45m more than the previous year, and supported over 32,000 jobs in the tourism sector.

Almost a third of that money was spent on food and drink, with 28 per cent on retail, 18 per cent on transport, 13 per cent on accommodation and 10 per cent on attractions and entertainment.

The cobbled streets and dreaming spires of Oxford attracted 6,750,000 visitors, up by 1.3 per cent from 2013. It came second to Cherwell, which was the most-visited district last year with 7,016,000 visitors heading to Bicester Village.

Hayley Beer-Gamage, chief executive of Experience Oxfordshire, said: “This is an excellent set of results. To see an increase across the whole of the county is a real achievement and shows what a valuable sector tourism is to supporting the local economy.

“These figures also clearly highlight the value of the overseas markets who stay longer and spend more. We aim to build on this and more actively target the overseas markets in the future. We have a great product in Oxfordshire and must capitalise on this.”

The number of visitors to Bodleian Libraries, one of Oxford’s most popular tourism hotspots, doubled in the past year. Suzanne de la Rosa, head of communications, said: “The Bodleian Libraries have seen a steady increase in visitors over the last few years.

“The newly-refurbished Weston Library has proved enormously popular, exceeding expectations for visitor figures.”

She said the library had over half a million visitors within six months of opening.

Councillor Ian Hudspeth, leader of Oxfordshire County Council, said: “This is a very welcome piece of news. It proves once again that Oxfordshire is a wonderful and welcoming place to visit for either a long or short period and, equally as important, this upturn in tourism adds to what is already a thriving local economy.”

Parves Khan, head of research at Tourism South East, said Oxfordshire’s history and heritage is the main draw for tourists. he said: “That’s the primary reason, and its connections with Oxford University. That’s one of the prime reasons it’s so attractive to overseas visitors, who make up about half of visitors.

“Retail is also a big draw – there’s Bicester Village in Cherwell and the stores within Oxford itself.”