13/06/2011

Proving its popularity with group visitors, York has been crowned ‘Most Group Friendly UK Destination' at this year's Group Travel Organiser Awards, which took place on Friday night at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel in London and was hosted by top Travel Journalist and Travel Editor of the Independent, Simon Calder.

The Group Travel Organiser Awards are decided on by the readers of Group Travel Organiser Magazine and have earned an enviable reputation as the most prestigious event serving the group travel market. The glittering awards ceremony is an annual celebration of the very best suppliers to the group travel industry and is regularly attended by over 400 key members of the travel trade.

No stranger to this title, which York won in 2006 and 2009, this year York was one of eight finalists, beating off competition from Blackpool, Canterbury, Eastbourne, Hull, Isle of Wight, London and Stratford-upon-Avon. Michelle Brown, Senior Marketing Executive for Visit York, said ‘We're absolutely delighted to regain this title. Our dedicated Groups Desk prides itself on the service it provides for groups coming into York and with top attractions such as the National Railway Museum, JORVIK, York Minster and York Castle Museum, as well as a fantastic variety of group friendly accommodation, we aim to keep York the number one choice for this lucrative group visit market.'

Recent research conducted by Visit York into the group tourism market demonstrated that last year alone, group tourism brought in excess of £25 million pounds of direct value to York's economy, through spend on accommodation, visiting attractions, shopping and dining out. Almost 10,000 group visits were made to York in 2010. The average size of each group visit was around thirty, 62% of group visitors stayed between 1-2 nights in the city and a further third stayed between 3-4 nights.

Visit York proactively targets the group tourism sector through marketing and PR campaigns, which includes attendance at national and international travel trade exhibitions, a dedicated visitor guide and website for group organisers and familiarisation visits for tour operators. Boosting its group tourism credentials further, York was recently a finalist in the ‘Coach Friendly City of the Year' category at the 2011 Coach Tourism Awards.

Visit York's dedicated Groups Desk offers a free accommodation booking service, itinerary planning advice and a one-stop information point - as well as a website full of special offers and group travel news at www.groupvisityork.com . Email groups@visityork.org or telephone 01904 550080 for more information. ENDS

For further information please contact:

Kay Hyde - PR Manager - Visit York
Direct Line: 01904 554451
Mobile: 07961 828092
Email: kh@visityork.org

Katie Porter - PR Executive - Visit York
Direct Line: 01904 554436
Email: kp@visityork.org

Visit York

• Visit York is supported by Welcome to Yorkshire, City of York Council and tourism businesses. Welcome to Yorkshire is charged with improving the Yorkshire and Humber visitor economy.
• Visit York's aim is to market York as a must-see world-class destination to the leisure and business visitor, and ensure investment to develop the quality of tourism in York.  Visit York is responsible for leisure and conference marketing, visitor services (running the city's Visitor Information Centre), training and developing the tourism product. 
• Visit York is the driving force of the city's tourism industry. Key facts:

7.1 million visitors

£443 million total visitor spend  

23,000 jobs

York - Recent Tourism Awards

«           2010 - Google Street View Awards -

The Shambles - Most Picturesque Street in Britain

Stonegate - 2nd Best for Fashion in Britain

Fossgate - 3rd Best in Britain for Food

«    European Excellence Award For Best Tourism Campaign 2010

«         Most Group Friendly UK Destination - Group Travel Organiser Magazine Awards - 2009

«         Best UK City - Telegraph Travel Awards - 2008

«         Finalist - Most Group Friendly UK Destination - Group Travel Organiser Awards - 2008

«         Best UK City - Telegraph Travel Awards - 2007

«           European Tourism City of the Year - European Cities Marketing - 2008

«         Coach Tourism City of the Year - Coach Tourism Awards - 2008