CASTLE Howard will feature prominently in a campaign to encourage more Chinese people to visit Britain.

The stately home is one of 101 places across the country which does not have a name in Mandarin.

VisitBritain’s new £1.6m campaign, GREAT names for GREAT Britain, will encourage people in China to think of an appropriate name to raise awareness of the attractions, with the new Chinese name unveiled in Spring.

Ryedale MP Anne McIntosh said: “This is a particularly effective way of promoting Britain because in China it is popular to give names to celebrities, places and foods that give a literal description of what Chinese people think about such things.

One of VisitBritain’s core objectives is to spread the economic benefits of tourism across Britain and as such the list of points of interest, includes points of interest from the Highlands of Scotland, to the West of Wales to the East of England.”

Miss McIntosh said VisitBritain was partnering with UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) and the Home Office on the campaign.

She added: “China is already a valuable source market. In 2013, there were 196,000 visits from China with £492m being spent during their time in the UK, while the average spend for all visitors to the UK was £640 per visit, the average spend for visitors from China was far higher at £2,500 per visit.”

A spokesman for Castle Howard, which will also feature in the latest Visit Britain GREAT campaign, said: “We are thrilled to have been included in the campaign which will help promote us, Yorkshire and Britain as a whole to the growing Chinese tourism market. We look forward to hearing the winning names which will be announced in early 2015.”