30/09/2010

A raft of tourism successes will be celebrated at Visit York's annual AGM and Conference; themed, ‘Going the Extra Mile' and hosted by BBC Radio York breakfast show presenter Adam Tomlinson.  Expert speakers from across the tourism sector will address around 150 businesses at the event on Thursday 14 October, at the Park Inn by Radisson. 

As well as a presentation of key achievements over the last year, Visit York's Chief Executive, Gillian Cruddas, will also unveil plans to grow the city's future visitor economy.  2009-2010 has seen multi-million pound investments in the tourism sector in York including: the new Yorkshire Museum (£2 million redevelopment), the new JORVIK (£1 million redevelopment) and the opening of the city's first five star hotel - the Cedar Court Grand.  Meanwhile York Minster's recent success in its bid for £9.7m Heritage Lottery funding has been heralded as a triumph for the city.

2010 has been a year of achievement for Visit York and its partners.  The Yorkshire Pass was launched in April, encouraging visitors to stay in York and Yorkshire as long as possible and May heralded the opening of York's state of the art Visitor Information Centre - where visitor numbers are up by 75% on the previous year.  York is still reeling too from the success of its recent annual Festival of Food and Drink and all ears are now waiting for the results of the bid for World Heritage Status.

Gillian Cruddas said, ‘We've had a very successful year on the tourism front with new investment, new businesses opening up and strong visitor numbers.  We now need to capitalize on the continuation of the ‘staycation', offering new reasons to visit and good value for money to our seven million annual visitors.'

Guest speakers at the conference will be: Gary Verity - Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, Superintendent Lisa Winward, Police Commander for the City of York, Simon Rhatigan - owner of the Feversham Arms Hotel & Verbana Spa and former Vice President of Disneyland Paris - Christian Perdrier.

Superintendent Lisa Winward will compare York with cities like Bath, Chester and Stratford and report back on crime figures and former Senior Vice President of Disneyland Paris, Christian Perdrier, will define what actually makes world class customer service.  Christian will share his experience of bringing the Disney philosophy to Alnwick Castle.  Owner of the award-winning hotel, the Feversham Arms, Simon Rhatigan, will offer delegates three winning formulas for success and offer his advice on pitfalls to avoid.

This year Welcome to Yorkshire supported York Theatre Royal's production of the Railway Children at Waterloo station, raising the profile of the region in London.  Sponsorship of ‘Who wants to be a millionaire' has also given millions of TV viewers exposure to http://www.yorkshire.com/.  And Welcome to Yorkshire has just launched its new TV advertising campaign, encouraging viewers to book a break in Yorkshire. 

Gary Verity will be offering his view on how delegates can work in partnership with Visit York and Welcome to Yorkshire to grow their businesses.  Gary said, ‘By working more closely than ever with businesses in the county Yorkshire's tourism economy is going from strength to strength but we are not resting on our laurels and we have ambitious plans to do even better in 2011.'

Attendance at the Tourism Conference and AGM is free of charge. To reserve your conference place or book to stay for the lunch (£15) and networking session, contact Alison Ruddick - ar@visityork.org or telephone 07909 767129.  The deadline for booking is Friday 8 October.  ENDS