MORE than 50 visitors from Singapore will visit the Ribble Valley later this month, boosting hopes it will become a ‘blue riband’ destination for Far East tourists.

Following two successful tours from China and Singapore in 2010, several more group bookings have been made for a Pendle Witches and Clitheroe tour on the same itinerary as Wordsworth and the Lakes and Stratford-upon-Avon and its Shakespeare links.

The tours are organised by Clitheroe-historian and storyteller Simon Entwistle, who dons Victorian top hat and tails as he guides visitors through the occult tales of Pendle and its witches.

He said: “I have a large booking of some 50 people for May 22. The will arrive at Manchester Airport and travel by coach to Ambleside and Grasmere.

The following day they come straight to the Ribble Valley for a tour.

“They take a trip to the top of Pendle Hill and a walking tour of Clitheroe.”

Simon said the tourists had been keen to sample the local cuisine while in the town.

“The Swan and Royal hotel in the town will provide meals for the party,” he said.

“The vast majority have chosen that great British meal, fish and chips.

“I’m very pleased that the tours have gone down well in the Far East and its good to know that the Ribble Valley can compete with the Lake District.

“Part of it is the burgeoning interest in Singapore and China in the occult and historic legends.”

Visitors from the Far East, particularly China is the fastest growing source market for British tourism, according to VisitBritain.