13/12/2010

York has just scooped another European Award, beating off some extremely tough competition.  Visit York, the official tourism agency for the city, collected the prestigious award at the European Awards ceremony held on 9th December in Prague. The European Excellence Awards, a communications industry award, honour the very best in European communications. 

This award will sit alongside the prestigious European Cities Tourism Award bestowed on the city in 2008, when York scooped the title ‘Best European City'.  Visit York was selected as a finalist out of almost 1,500 entries for its high profile public relations and marketing campaign, ‘Unlocking York', on the run up to the summer opening of its new visitor centre, at 1 Museum Street.

The aim of Visit York's campaign, which worked in conjunction with Willoughby PR, was to increase visits to the new visitor centre by 40% in its first year of operation.  A range of creative public relations tactics were utilized in the campaign, including a school art competition, an online survey to find Yorkshire's favourite personalities and You Tube video footage featuring characters from York Theatre Royal's production of the Wind in the Willows.

Judges in the European Excellence Awards whittled the travel and tourism category down to just five contenders and had high praise for York as the outstanding winner.  The shortlisted campaigns were:

 

•·         7 Wonders of Portugal - 7 Natural Wonders of Portugal Communication

•·         Alton Towers Resort - Launch of TH13TEEN

•·         Deutsche Lufthansa - Introducing the Lufthansa Airbus A380

•·         Visit York - Unlocking York

•·         Xacobeo - Xacobeo around the World

 

Kay Hyde, PR Manager for Visit York said, ‘We are thrilled to win this award which once again assists in establishing York on a European stage, showcasing the city to top communications professionals from across Europe.  We were up against some very high profile names in the communications industry, so this is quite a coup and recognition of the fantastic teamwork that goes into promoting York as a visitor destination.'

Supported by Yorkshire Forward, the City of York Council, Welcome to Yorkshire, York Conservation Trust and the Business Link Legacy Fund, the new state of the art ‘Visit York Information Centre' opened its doors to the public on 27th May, replacing the service which was located at the De Grey Rooms in Exhibition Square.  Since opening 276,000 people have visited the new centre, compared with 147,500 visitors through the doors at De Grey Rooms - an impressive 86% increase in visitor numbers. 

Winners in the European Excellence Awards 2010 were announced on 9th December at a glittering awards ceremony in Prague and attendance at the ceremony was supported by Jet2.com and Marriott Hotels.  ENDS