THE tourist industry in the Yorkshire Dales is doing its bit to preserve the environment, a survey has found.

More than 1,000 questionnaires were sent to businesses involved with tourism to find out what they were doing to reduce their impact on the environment.

The survey was run by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.

The authority's sustainable tourism officer, Kathryn Storey, described the results as encouraging.

"Many of the businesses have already taken steps to introduce environmentally-friendly measures, like reducing energy consumption and recycling," she said.

"The survey also shows many of the businesses are keen to do more and realise it is a way of reducing their overheads while helping the environment."

Dr Philip Cartwright, landlord of the George and Dragon, in Dent, won a picnic ham in connection with the survey.