Company Profile

Visit York is the official tourism organisation for York and its surroundings. Visit York’s main aim is to contribute significantly to the advancement of tourism in York, representing the tourism sector and marketing York as a world class visitor destination in the UK and overseas.

Brief history of the company

In 2012, Visit York, formerly known as the York Visitor and Conference Bureau, celebrated 25 years of leading tourism in York.

Since launching in 1987, the agency has championed and supported the city’s accommodation and hospitality providers, retailers and visitor attractions, ensuring York’s reputation as a first class visitor destination has reached far and wide across the globe.

The organisation has helped boost annual visitor numbers to the city from 2.1 million visitors in 1987 to seven million today and it has worked to increase the value of tourism to the local economy from £55 million to a record breaking £443 million. This booming tourism industry has also helped create more jobs in the sector from an estimated 5,000 in the mid-eighties to 23,000 today.

Gillian Cruddas MBE, Chief Executive