13/10/2010

It's official - dining out is now the most popular pastime for visitors to York.  York's results in an annual tourism survey have been revealed today, ahead of Visit York's annual Tourism Conference this Thursday. The ‘Regional Visitor Survey', commissioned by Welcome to Yorkshire, is the biggest independent survey of visitors staying across Yorkshire.  The year long project, which questioned over ten thousand people, asked visitors about their opinions of York and Yorkshire, their motivations for visiting and their likes and dislikes.  This crucial information will be used to plan Visit York's marketing campaigns for next year and beyond. 

Eating and drinking has gone into the lead as the number one most preferred activity, reflecting the quality and diversity of restaurants on offer.   74% of respondents said their preferred activity was eating and drinking in York, followed by visiting cultural attractions (59%) and shopping (50%).  The most enjoyable aspects of York were cited as being the museums and galleries (31%), the building and other attractions of historical interest (21%) and the shops and city centre (17%).  77% of visitors also said they enjoyed strolling around and enjoying the ambience of York.  Unchanged on last year a fantastic 99% of visitors stated they'd recommend a stay in York.

48% of visitors were staying overnight, significantly higher than the regional average of 35%.  52% were day visitors, lower than the regional average of 62%.  The largest percentage of overnight visitors were from London and the South East (19% of all staying visitors).  The North West (16%), Scotland (11%) and Yorkshire and the Humber (10%) made up the rest of the majority of York's staying visitors.

Gillian Cruddas, Chief Executive of Visit York said, ‘it's interesting to see that dining out is now listed as the top activity for visitors to York - not surprising since so many fantastic new restaurants have opened up in the last year or two.  Above all it's excellent news to see that 99% of people who visit York say they would recommend it to friends or family, a fantastic endorsement for everyone involved in the York tourism industry.' 

There has been a *decrease in the percentage of overseas visits to York, compared to UK visits - 10% of visitors were from overseas (13% in 2008/09), compared with 90% of visitors coming from within the UK - which, tourism chiefs say, reflects the impact of the ‘staycation'.  Actual visitor numbers will be known shortly when the results of the annual economic impact model are released.   The proportion of North American visitors coming to York (at 32% of all overseas visits) is holding steady compared with the previous year, but figures also show an upturn in the proportion of European visits (at 41% of all overseas visits), compared with 34% in the previous year.  The International Passenger Survey, conducted by the Office for National Statistics reported Spain, Germany, France, Netherlands and Denmark as the top European countries generating visitors to York in 2009-2010.

Average length of stay has gone down slightly from the previous year - down from 4.6 days (2008) to 3.92 days (2009).  57% of visitors were taking a short break (1-3 nights) and 40% taking a longer break (4 nights or more).  81% of visitors had been to York before (up from 77%), demonstrating a trend in repeat visits to the city.  One third of visitors to York said they were planning to visit other parts of Yorkshire.   Visitors travelling to York by train decreased to 18% (25% of all visits in 08/09 were by train), though this is still the highest percentage of visitors travelling to Yorkshire by train.  Gary Verity chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire said: "These are great results for York and are symptomatic of what is happening in the rest of the county with more people staying, enjoying and planning to return to Yorkshire.  99% of visitors said they would recommend York to family or a friend; we want people to feel like that about the whole of Yorkshire and we will continue to work hard with our partners to make that happen."

A review of the tourism year will be discussed at the Visit York AGM and tourism conference this Thursday 14 October at the Park Inn Hotel, York, where next year's marketing plans will also be revealed.  ENDS