19/07/2010

The campaign, which is running on- and off-line from July until the end of August, aims to target families, inter-generational groups and couples who live within a 90 minute commute of York and is being supported by the National Railway Museum, East Coast Rail and First Transpennine Express.

In partnership with the National Railway Museum, East Coast Trains and First Transpennine Express, ‘I Love York' advertising will appear on buses in Newcastle, Durham, Darlington and Berwick as well as in Manchester. Pay Per Click and display advertising will also appear on Google throughout the campaign and regular e-newsletters to the Visit York database will complement this activity.

New ‘I Love York' web pages go live this week at www.visityork.org/iloveyork promoting the full range of visitor attractions in the city, an itinerary of summer events, special offers and ideas for places to eat.   Visit York is also asking visitors to email via the website to say what they love about the city; quotes, videos and photos from visitors will then be used in ongoing marketing activity.

A social media campaign has also been launched, running on Twitter and Facebook featuring a series of competitions.  Visitors have the chance to win a two night family break as well as ten sets of prizes ranging from tickets for Wind in the Willows at the York Theatre Royal, dinner for two at Café Concerto, Yorkshire Passes and ‘I Heart York' goody bags.

Michelle Brown, Marketing Executive at Visit York, said: "York's day visitor segment accounts for 83 per cent of the city's visitor numbers and 47 per cent of all leisure visitor spend so it is important that we capitalise on this with a targeted campaign, offering lots of new reasons to visit York this summer.

Domestically, the North East accounts for the largest single proportion (13 per cent) of UK visitors to York, whilst the North West is the second largest with seven per cent of visitors. Our advertising campaigns are aimed at increasing these numbers in both regions. We also aim to increase followers on Twitter and Facebook throughout the course of the ‘I Heart York' campaign as well as boost hits to the web pages by 15 per cent."

To find out more about Visit York's ‘I Love York' campaign, go to www.visityork.org/iloveyork

ENDS