Make It York

York’s Unsung Hero wins at national VisitEngland Awards for Excellence

Adam Wardale, General Manager at Middletons Hotel in York, won the Unsung Hero award at the tourism industry’s annual national VisitEngland Awards for Excellence in Birmingham.

Following Adam’s win for Unsung Hero at this year’s Visit York Tourism Awards in March, he was put forward for consideration in the national VisitEngland Awards for Excellence and was shortlisted as a finalist alongside Neeshal Jeewon and Clive Goodwin.

The Unsung Hero Award is a new award for 2022, which recognises an individual working for a tourism business who excels in their role and deserves to be applauded for their work and commitment to the industry. Upon winning the Visit York Tourism Award in March, judges commented that “Adam Wardale at Middletons is a very deserving winner. As well as being instrumental in transforming the hotel into a luxury destination, he has undertaken a number of initiatives to benefit the community such as his work with local prisoners. He is inspiring and a credit to York.”

Adam celebrated his win at the national awards ceremony last night, 8 June, at the Library of Birmingham, where Gold, Silver and Bronze winners were announced by broadcaster and author Clare Balding.

The prestigious VisitEngland Awards for Excellence have been running for more than 30 years, celebrating and championing innovation, quality and best practice across the industry recognising businesses and individuals who raise the bar of England’s tourism offer.

The full list of winners for the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence can be found here.

Adam Wardale, General Manager at Middletons Hotel and winner of the Unsung Hero Award, said: “It was both an honour and a privilege to be nominated, yet alone to win, the prestigious Unsung Hero Award at both the Visit York and VisitEngland awards. On both a professional and personal level, I am incredibly proud to have been able to represent Middletons Hotel and York – a wonderful city that has such as diverse tourism offering. Over the past few years, the Middletons’ team has worked incredibly hard to develop the hotel and offer guests a first-class experience. We’re also extremely proud to be able to give back to the York community by forging strong partnerships with local institutions such as HMP Askham Grange women’s prison. This has always been a personal passion of mine and I’m determined that we will continue to support local schools, colleges and universities to promote and champion hospitality as a viable career.”

Sarah Loftus, Managing Director at Make It York, said: “A huge congratulations to Adam for his well-deserved win at the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence! We’re incredibly grateful for all the hard work that Adam has put into our city and for always going above and beyond, both for our visitors and in our communities. A huge congratulations again to Adam and we’re so proud that he’s brought this national accolade home to York.”

Tourism Minister Nigel Huddleston said: “Our superb tourism businesses offer something for everyone and the sector is one we can be proud of. It is fantastic to see so many hardworking businesses of all sizes recognised for their gold-standard contribution to English tourism and I congratulate all the winners.”

Nick de Bois, Advisory Board Chair at VisitEngland, said: “It is wonderful to see the Awards event back in-person, giving us the opportunity to come together, celebrate and congratulate the best-of-the-best across England’s world-class tourism industry.

“From an accessible and inclusive sailing school to a family run rural glamping site and an immersive living museum, these awards highlight the outstanding quality, the innovation and the customer service excellence across our industry. All these businesses are winners in every sense.

“Millions of jobs and local economies depend on tourism and this year’s awards also highlight the dedication of tourism businesses as they rebuild, championing best practice and providing visitors with first-class experiences.”

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Sarah Foster, Communications Manager at Make It York

Email: comms@makeityork.com

Notes to editors:

This year’s national VisitEngland Awards for Excellence aligned with 14 local competitions, which ran across England, with winners automatically entered into the national awards.
For more information about the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence – see www.VisitEnglandAwards.org
The VisitEngland Awards for Excellence has been accredited with the Awards Trust Mark. The Awards Trust Mark scheme, run by The Independent Awards Standards Council, enhances trust between those entering awards schemes, and the organisations running them. For more information about the Awards Trust Mark see – https://awardstrustmark.org/

For information about the Caravan and Motorhome Club see – http://www.camc.com/
For information about Barclays see– https://www.barclayscorporate.com/
For information about Sykes Holiday Cottages see – https://www.sykescottages.co.uk/
For information about the Family Holiday Charity see – https://familyholidaycharity.org.uk/
VisitBritain’s research shows that films and TV are powerful motivators for travel. With almost a third of potential visitors keen to visit places seen-on-screen, film tourism continues to be an exciting, growing and valuable part of England’s tourism offer.

TXGB (Tourism Exchange Great Britain) is a business to business platform connecting tourism suppliers to a diverse range of domestic and international distributors.
For images of the individual VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2022 winners contact Thomas.Clues@visitbritain.org

About Make It York

Make It York

Make It York’s purpose is to develop and promote the city and its surroundings – nationally and internationally – as a vibrant and attractive place to live, visit, study, work and do business. The company’s remit covers leisure and business tourism, city centre management, Shambles Market and festivals and events.

Visit York is a part of Make It York and is the leisure tourism brand.

Under the brand Visit York, Make It York’s aim is to market York as a must-see world-class destination to the leisure visitor and ensure investment to develop the quality of tourism in York.

City comes together to bring Ukraine’s Kyiv City Ballet to York Theatre Royal

Tickets on-sale now, 100% of ticket sales to be donated to UNICEF’s Ukraine Appeal

On Tuesday 14th June, York Theatre Royal will be hosting a very special gala performance from Ukraine’s Kyiv City Ballet. In the company’s first UK performance, all ticket proceeds will be donated to UNICEF’s Ukraine Appeal.

Tickets are now on-sale for the special performance which will be split into two parts, under the direction of Ivan Kozlov and Ekaterina Kozlova. Firstly, a class from the company of the Kyiv City Ballet followed by excerpts from ballets such as Swan Lake and The Nutcracker.

Tom Bird, Chief Executive of York Theatre Royal, personally invited the prestigious Kyiv City Ballet to perform at the theatre after learning that the company were stranded in France. The Kyiv City Ballet had been on tour in France as the war broke out in Ukraine and have resided there ever since, with it being too unsafe for them to return home to Ukraine.

City partners in York have come together to make this fundraising performance a reality, with Make It York, City of York Council and York BID supporting York Theatre Royal with organisation and logistics to bring the Kyiv City Ballet to York.

Eurostar and LNER have stepped in to arrange the company’s return travel from France to York for the fundraising performance. While Visit York members Elmbank Hotel, Malmaison, Middletons, Sandburn Hall, The Grand, The Principal and York Marriott have all offered to accommodate the Kyiv City Ballet company and crew while they’re in the city, with additional hospitality offered from City Cruises and Bettys. The company will also receive a Civic welcome at York Mansion House.

First Bus will support on the visa costs to bring the company to York, with remaining costs and company fees for the performance to be covered through corporate sponsorship.

An evening with the Kyiv City Ballet will be a special opportunity for York to publicly show its support for the citizens of Ukraine, while celebrating an incredible evening of dance. 100% of the ticket sales from the performance will go to UNICEF to support people in Ukraine, as nominated by the ballet company.

Ivan Kozlov, General Director of Kyiv City Ballet, said: “We are honoured to be performing in York and sharing our art with a British audience. We are hugely grateful to everyone who has collaborated to bring our company to the United Kingdom for the first time.”

Tom Bird, Chief Executive of York Theatre Royal, said: “It is a huge honour to be hosting Kyiv City Ballet at York Theatre Royal. This is the company’s first UK appearance since their city came under attack, and we are proud that York is able to stand in solidarity with Kyiv by supporting these extraordinary dancers for this one-off visit.”

Sarah Loftus, Managing Director at Make It York, said: “We are so proud of our city pulling together to bring the Kyiv City Ballet to York. This is a special opportunity to celebrate world-class performers, while raising vital funds for the people of Ukraine. The generosity of businesses and residents in York has made this possible.”

Councillor Darryl Smalley, Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Communities, said: “In what are incredibly dark times, it has been heartening to see York’s response as the city has come together to show our support and solidarity with our Ukrainian friends here in York and in Ukraine. From donations and heart-warming signs of solidarity to housing refugees, it’s clear that we as a city are united and ready to do all we can to stand with Ukraine and its people.

“Art has a unique way of uniting people and that’s certainly what we need more now than ever. I’m grateful to all those involved for their support in setting up this amazing event. It will certainly be an emotional and wonderful evening for a crucial cause – please do consider supporting the event and charities involved in helping Ukrainians at this difficult time.”

Andrew Lowson, Executive Director at York BID, said: “It is always good to hear of high quality cultural offerings coming to York, but for our City to attract the Kyiv City Ballet will feel really special. Many of us feel helpless on how we can support Ukraine, but I know residents and businesses will want to show support and solidarity, as well as celebrate the visit of a world-renowned group of performers.”

Adam Wardale, Chair of Hospitality Association York (HAY) and General Manager at Middletons Hotel, said: “The members of HAY are incredibly proud to be able to offer Ukraine’s Kyiv City Ballet performers accommodation throughout their stay in York. This is a fantastic opportunity to support Ukraine, whilst also celebrating the arts, and I would encourage people to attend the show and show their solidarity.”

ENDS

For further information or interview requests:

Sarah Foster, Communications Manager at Make It York

Sarah.Foster@makeityork.com / 07719 105 088

NOTES TO EDITORS

Kyiv City Ballet will perform at York Theatre Royal on Tuesday 14^th June at 7.30pm, 100% of ticket sales will support the people of Ukraine.

Ticket Information

Ticket prices: £15, £24, £33, £41 (100% of ticket proceeds will be donated to UNICEF, as agreed with Kyiv City Ballet)

Tickets are available from York Theatre Royal Box Office in person or on the phone 01904 623568 (Mon – Sat, 13.00 – 17.00 and until 20.00 on performance days) and online at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk

Additional Information

Performance running time: approximately 2.5 hours

Funding Information

To make this production happen, York Theatre Royal have requested £20,000 in corporate sponsorship to cover the costs of bringing the Kyiv City Ballet to York. This includes visa costs (supported by First Bus) for the company and their performance fees.

If businesses would like to enquire about sponsoring this event, please contact eleanor.mckenna@yorktheatreroyal.co.uk

100% of ticket sales will be donated to UNICEF’s Ukraine Appeal.

About Kyiv City Ballet

The Kyiv City Ballet was founded in 2014 by ActArt LLC by the director of both ActArt LLC and subsequently the Kyiv City Ballet; Ivan Kozlov. The company has over 25 ballets in its repertoire and has conducted numerous successful tours throughout Europe and Asia; France, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, and the Middle East. The dancers are of the highest calibre; from the corps de ballet to the principal soloists.

https://www.kcbtheater.com/about

About Make It York

Visit York is a part of Make It York and is the leisure tourism brand. Under the brand Visit York, Make It York’s aim is to market York as a must-see world-class destination to the leisure visitor and ensure investment to develop the quality of tourism in York.

About York Theatre Royal

York Theatre Royal has brought delight and fulfilment to the people of York and beyond by offering a rich and diverse programme of creative activity for over 275 years.

York Theatre Royal is one of the UK’s leading creative producers and presenters, constantly building on its reputation for producing high quality and ambitious theatre with highly regarded productions of new commissions, revivals at all scales, extraordinary site specific and large scale community shows and each year delivering a pantomime of international renown.

The theatre strives to be innovative, far-reaching and proactive in helping its entire community to live creative lives and has an engagement and participation programme that is nationally recognised and admired.

York Theatre Royal is committed to be forward-thinking and inclusive. It is a theatre at the very heart of its community and it is here for everyone.

www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk

Twitter: @YorkTheatre

Instagram: @YorkTheatreRoyal

Facebook: /YorkTheatreRoyal

15 organisations awarded ARG Events & Festivals Grants

Culture, Make It York News / By Make It York

Earlier this year, York based organisations negatively impacted by Covid-19 were invited to apply for a new Events and Festivals Grant Scheme to support upcoming events in 2022.

Following a successful application process, Make It York and City of York Council are pleased to award grants to fifteen York-based organisations. The purpose for this grant funding is to support the delivery of events and festivals which would have happened in 2020 and/or 2021, as well as new events and festivals led by York-based organisations who have been negatively impacted by the pandemic and therefore unable to fund the overall costs of such activities themselves.

The £50k grant funding comes from the Government’s ARG fund, and is provided by City of York Council to Make It York, to be delivered in consultation with the Executive Members for Culture & Communities and Economy & Strategic Planning, supporting York’s economic recovery from Covid-19.

The fifteen events and festivals who have been awarded funding from the ARG Events and Festivals Grant are:

York LGBT+ Pride (18 June 2022): York’s summer Pride event provides the main platform for a celebration of the diversity of the LGBT+ community through entertainment, inclusivity and fun. https://yorkpride.org.uk/
2022 Wagon Plays organised by York Mystery Plays (19 – 26 June 2022): York Mystery Plays are a unique part of York’s literary and cultural heritage and allow hundreds of local people to engage with their own history. The Wagon Plays will be performed in June 2022 in outdoor locations across York. https://www.yorkmysteryplays.co.uk/buy-tickets/
York Mediale 2022 Events (24 June – 18 September 2022, and November 2022): Funding will support a programme of events at York Art Gallery including the ‘Body Vessel Clay’ exhibition and the Immersive Assembly, Mediale’s international artist development programme, in collaboration with the city of Viborg in Denmark, a fellow UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts. https://mediale.org.uk/immersive-assembly/ https://www.yorkartgallery.org.uk/exhibition/body-vessel-clay/
Operation Hummingbird organised by Next Door But One CIC (August 2022): A new play by Next Door But One exploring loss, love, terminal illness and anticipatory grief. Operation Hummingbird is a conversation across the decades about a sudden family death, realising an opportunity that we all wish we could do at some point in our life; go back and talk to our younger self. https://www.nextdoorbutone.co.uk/Operation-Hummingbird.php
Wilberforce Bounces Back organised by The Wilberforce Trust (August and December 2022): The trust will host two community fayres – the return of their annual Christmas Fayre and a new Summer Fayre. The events will include old style village fayres, with sideshow stalls, fairground type games, craft stalls, food, silent auction and a raffle. https://www.wilberforcetrust.org.uk/
Groves Community Cinema organised by Theatre@41 (Quarterly from September 2022): A new regular community cinema with a weekend of films every quarter is coming to York. Showing a mixture of topical films relevant to the lived experiences of the local community, films from the Yorkshire Film Archive, and a more accessible and affordable cinematic environment for the young people of the Groves and York. https://www.41monkgate.co.uk/
York Design Week 2022 organised by Kaizen Arts Agency CIC (October 2022): York Design Week (YDW) is an annual city-wide multidisciplinary festival offering a programme of events, workshops, talks, exhibitions, and performances. This year’s theme aims to positively shift conversation and behaviour around what design means and how it can offer innovative solutions. https://www.yorkdesignweek.com/
Making Moves (previously Dance It Up North) organised by York Dance Space (October 2022): Making Moves is a community dance production which brings together the diverse communities of York and North Yorkshire to perform at York Theatre Royal. https://yorkdancespace.com/
York Unlocked CIC (October 2022): Discover interesting buildings that are usually difficult to access with York Unlocked. Visitors will have the opportunity to take a look around famous York buildings including Herbert House, St Williams College, The Guildhall, Kings Manor, Old Archbishops Palace, Bootham School, De Grey Rooms, Lodge Duncombe Place, Hudson Quarter, Monk Bar, Chapel St Johns Uni and more. https://york-unlocked.org.uk/
BAFTA-Qualifying Aesthetica Film Festival organised by Aesthetica Magazine Ltd (November 2022): The BAFTA-Qualifying Aesthetica Film Festival is one of the key destinations for new cinema in the UK. The festival will screen new films across 12 venues in the city centre this November and provides education and learning opportunities, as well as access to new film and high-profile speakers. https://www.asff.co.uk/
2022 Yorkshire Schools Dance Festival organised by Creative Learning Partnerships (November 2022): The Yorkshire Schools Dance Festival is open to all primary schools, secondary schools, colleges, further education providers and community dance companies across Yorkshire. Over 1000 participants will create and perform fresh choreography in a large-scale venue, as well as taking part in workshops and watch performances by professional dance companies. https://www.yorkshireschoolsdancefestival.co.uk/
SLAP York Showcase organised by SLAP York (SLAP Collective LTD) (November/December 2022): The SLAP York Showcase includes four creative workshops and a showcase of brand-new work created by artists living in the city. There’ll be live performances, including one to one experiences, durational work and participatory performance. https://www.slapyork.co.uk/
Poetry For All organised by Stairwell Books / York Spoken Word (November/December 2022): Poetry For All welcomes newcomers and regulars to join their poetry and prose open mic, which has been going for over 16 years. Offering a platform to disabled poets, they were the first UK event BSL signed with poems also PowerPointed in an accessible venue. http://www.yorkspokenword.org.uk/
Christmas Folk at the NCEM (December 2022): Based in the centre of York since 2000, the NCEM promotes high quality concerts across a wide range of music genres. Christmas Folk at the NCEM will showcase three traditional/folk concerts taking place at the NCEM in December 2022. https://www.ncem.co.uk/
”The Shambles Saved Christmas!” organised by Thunk-It Theatre Ltd (December 2022): ‘The Shambles Saved Christmas!’ is a one person, family theatre performance, written to showcase the famous Shambles Market in York City Centre, whilst celebrating festive cheer. There’ll also be opportunities to take part in crafting sessions, including make your own festive decorations. https://www.thunkittheatre.co.uk/

All events will receive support from Visit York membership, to ensure that their event is as far reaching as possible.

Helen Apsey, Head of Culture and Wellbeing at Make It York, said: “We received a high number of applications, of a very high standard, for the Events and Festivals Grants Scheme, and we’re delighted to be supporting 15 incredible initiatives with this funding. It’s a really broad, vibrant and diverse mix of events and festivals, which support local communities and residents, the local economy, and the aims of the York Culture Strategy.

“It’s been a really difficult few years for people, and these events will give residents the chance to re-engage with their city, to take part in new activities, and to celebrate and enjoy the diverse range of events and festivals happening in York this year, as well as attracting visitors to support the local economy.

“Many events and festivals have been severely impacted by the covid-19 pandemic, couldn’t take place as planned, or had to be cancelled altogether – and it’s still impacting organisers’ ability to fund the overall costs of events activity now. We’re really grateful to City of York Council for making this grants funding available from its Additional Restrictions Grant Allocation, to help us support so many events and festivals in York. Crucially, this funding will also enable many of these initiatives to become more sustainable in future years.”

Councillor Darryl Smalley, Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Communities, said: “I would like to congratulate all successful applicants. It’s great to see so many worthy events and causes receiving this latest financial boost.

“The ARG fund has previously supported safe, large-scale events across the city, such as Jorvik Viking Festival, York Food and Drink Festival, York Design Week and Aesthetica Film Festival. I look forward to the recipients of this latest set of funding use it to boost York’s exciting event scene, offering even more for residents and visitors to look forward to.”

Alan Park, Chair at Theatre@41, said: “The ARG Events and Festival grant will allow us to launch Theatre@41’s Groves Community Cinema, providing our local residents with a relaxed, affordable and accessible cinema that allows the community to connect with one another and provide some with their first visit to a theatre. Without this money we would not have been able to launch the cinema. Now the Groves and the wider York community can benefit from this event for years to come.”

For more information:

Sarah Foster, Communications Manager at Make It York

Comms@makeityork.com

Notes to Editors:

Grant funding comes from the Government’s ARG fund, and is provided by City of York Council to Make It York, to be delivered in consultation with the Executive Members for Culture & Communities and Economy & Strategic Planning, supporting York’s economic recovery from Covid-19.

Events and festivals applying for the grant funding were asked to demonstrate the following:

1. Evidence that their event has been negatively impacted by the covid-19 pandemic: demonstrating that the event has been delayed/ timelines affected, with evidence of financial losses/ reduced income OR how your new event has been negatively impacted by the pandemic and therefore you are unable to fund the overall costs of such activities yourselves

2. How funding for this event/ festival will support economic/ wider recovery from covid-19

3. How this event/ festival will support residents and communities

4. How this event/ festival supports the aims and vision of the York Culture Strategy, York’s Creative Future, 2020-25

5. How this grant funding will support the event to become more sustainable in future years.

About Make It York

Make It York’s purpose is to develop and promote the city and its surroundings – nationally and internationally – as a vibrant and attractive place to live, visit, study, work and do business. Its mission is to grow the economic prosperity and wider wellbeing of York and its citizens. In practice, this means delivering a range of projects and programmes based around our corporate strategic priorities.

These are:

City positioning and profile-raising
Ensuring an exciting city centre
Delivering the city’s ground-breaking Cultural Strategy

Bank of England Governor visits York

Make It York News / By Make It York

On Friday 8^th April from 12.30 – 2.00pm, Make It York hosted a private lunch at Gray’s Court Hotel with key stakeholders and the Governor of the Bank of England.

The Governor gave a short introduction over lunch before discussions began about how local businesses have been affected by the pandemic. The Governor was particularly interested in the impacts on supply chains and the labour market, as well as plans for the future and the impact of the situation in Russia and Ukraine.

Sarah Loftus, Managing Director at Make It York, says, “It was an invaluable opportunity to get so many influential members of the York community together with the Governor of the Bank of England to discuss the issues that we are facing as a city and as a community. It’s important that the voices of the stakeholders and local businesses are heard and, as a city, we’re aware and prepared for any changes ahead.”

Professor Charlie Jeffery, Vice-Chancellor at University of York,says “It was a really valuable opportunity to discuss with the Governor how national and international economic developments might impact in York – and how we should best play our cards in the interests of our city and those who live and work here.”

Andrew Lowson, Executive Director at York BID, says ‘It was a unique occasion for York business leaders to be able to listen to the Governor’s insight on the impact of Brexit, Covid and now Ukraine. We were able to highlight York’s strong bounce-back from the pandemic, whilst at the same time recognising the fact that cost pressures and labour shortages that will impact the local economy in 2022’

Alex Golledge, Bank of England Agent for Yorkshire, says “it was really great to bring the Governor to York on Friday. My job enables me to regularly bring out senior policymakers from Threadneedle Street to hear first-hand what is going on in the real economy. The conversation over lunch covered a range of issues relevant to policy decision making at the moment for e.g. how York as navigated the pandemic, conditions in the labour market, pay and plans for investment. The York Central development sounded particularly exciting for the city. Andrew really enjoy the event.

In attendance at the lunch was:

Sarah Loftus Make It York Managing Director

Greg Dyke Make It York & York Central Strategic Board Chair

Andrew Bailey Bank of England Governor

Alex Golledge Bank of England Agent

Ben Biggs, Senior Policy Adviser to the Governor

Professor Karen Bryan York St John University Vice Chancellor

Professor Charlie Jeffery University of York Vice Chancellor

William Derby York Racecourse Chief Executive

Jenny Herrera Good Business Charter CEO

Sarah Czarnecki Gray’s Court Hotel Partner

Paul Kissack Joseph Rowntree Foundation Group CEO

Andrew Lowson York BID Executive Director

Cllr Andrew Waller City of York Council Executive Member for Economy and Strategic Planning

James Farrar York & North Yorkshire LEP Chief Operating Officer

Jonathan King Pavers Finance Director

Rebecca Hill Indie York Chair

ARG Events and Festivals Grant Scheme now open for applications

Culture, Make It York News / By Make It York

York based organisations who have been negatively impacted by Covid-19 are invited to apply for a new Events and Festivals Grant Scheme, in order to support upcoming events in 2022. Applications are now open until 7^th April on the Make It York website, with grants of up to £10,000 per organisation available.

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the delivery of events and festivals across York, with many not taking place as planned or cancelled completely. Local arts, cultural and community organisations have also seen their finances negatively impacted by the pandemic as lockdown restrictions and social distancing halted their programme of activities and income generation.

Recognising this challenge, City of York Council allocated £100k from its Additional Restrictions Grant Allocation to support events and festivals to take place across York. This fund has been well received and utilised, livening up the city once more. In February 2022, it was approved that a further £50k allocation from the Council’s ARG Budget would be provided to Make It York to support a broader range of festivals and events to take place across York this year.

The purpose for this grant funding is to support the delivery of events and festivals which would have happened in 2020 and/or 2021, as well as new events and festivals led by York-based organisations who have been negatively impacted by the pandemic and therefore unable to fund the overall costs of such activities themselves. Applicants must demonstrate how their event supports economic recovery, residents, communities, plus the aims and ambitions of the York Culture Strategy.

Organisations who are awarded grants will have access to promotions through Visit York and Make It York’s high-profile marketing and communication channels. Where an organisation is not a member of Visit York, Make It York will provide a one-year membership package to ensure that the event is as far reaching as possible.

Sarah Loftus, Managing Director at Make It York, said: “Events and festivals have been significantly impacted throughout the pandemic, from cancellations to contingencies. This new Events and Festivals Grant Scheme, from the City of York Council’s Additional Restrictions Grant Allocation, aims to support both existing and new events taking place in the city this year benefitting residents, communities and continuing to champion York’s brilliant culture sector. Make It York have designed a quick turnaround grant-giving process, which opens from today, and we’re looking forward to receiving applications. Grants of up to £10,000 are available and we’ll be letting recipients know whether they’ve been successful before the end of April.”

Councillor Darryl Smalley, Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Communities, said: “This investment will support events across the city, boosting York’s reputation as a city of experiences. I urge organisations to put forward their ideas to ensure residents and visitors have many more exciting events to look forward to.”

“The ARG fund has previously supported safe, large-scale events across the city, such as Jorvik Viking Festival, York Food and Drink Festival, York Design Week and Aesthetica Film Festival. These much-loved events were a huge success and delivered an uplift to both our economy and wellbeing.”

For more information:

Sarah Foster, Communications Manager at Make It York

Comms@makeityork.com

Notes to Editors:

Applications for the ARG Events and Festivals Grant Scheme are open until 7th April. Please apply via the Make It York website.

Events and festivals applying for the grant funding must demonstrate the following:

2. How funding for this event/ festival will support economic/ wider recovery from covid-19

3. How this event/ festival will support residents and communities

4. How this event/ festival supports the aims and vision of the York Culture Strategy, York’s Creative Future, 2020-25

5. How this grant funding will support the event to become more sustainable in future years.

About Make It York

Make It York’s purpose is to develop and promote the city and its surroundings – nationally and internationally – as a vibrant and attractive place to live, visit, study, work and do business. Its mission is to grow the economic prosperity and wider wellbeing of York and its citizens. In practice, this means delivering a range of projects and programmes based around our corporate strategic priorities.

These are:

City positioning and profile-raising
Ensuring an exciting city centre
Delivering the city’s ground-breaking Cultural Strategy

Winners of Visit York Tourism Awards 2022

Events, Make It York News / By Make It York

On Thursday 3^rd March, the winners of the Visit York Tourism Awards, sponsored by LNER, were revealed at the prestigious awards ceremony. Held at York Racecourse, the best of York’s businesses went head-to-head to win one of 15 trophies.

Hosted by YorkMix Radio Breakfast Presenters, Ben Fry and Laura Castle, the ‘Tourism Oscars of the North’ sees eligible winners across a number of categories automatically put forward to the national VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2022.

This year’s winners include two awards for Gray’s Court and The Bow Room Restaurant, who take the Taste of York award and Small Hotel of the Year with judges commenting on an “outstanding experience”. They will now be put forward for VisitEngland’s Awards for Excellence, which they won in 2020 for Small Hotel of the Year.

New Tourism Business of the Year goes to The Deathly Dark Tours, which judges said had “quickly become one of the most popular tours in York”. Dorian Deathly is also a finalist for VisitEngland’s Tourism Superstar, with the public vote still open until 22^nd March.

JORVIK Viking Centre takes the Large Visitor Attraction of the Year award with judges commenting that the “world-class attraction” scored a “10 out of 10 experience”. While the Small Attraction of the Year goes to North Yorkshire’s Mother Shipton’s Cave, with judges praising the “magical experience” and the “enthusiasm of the staff”.

York Maze is crowned Event of the Year, with judges “particularly impressed by the constant reinvestment and innovations that make York Maze an excellent summer event year after year.” A special mention is given to the Highly Commended ‘That JORVIK Viking Thing’ for reaching “a global audience with an amazing array of events and activities”.

The Bloody Tour of York takes the award for Experience of the Year, with judges commenting on “a top quality quirky and memorable York experience that has fans from all over the globe”.

York Gin is awarded Shop of the Year, for their “interesting and unique retail experience”, and Drover’s Arms takes Pub of the Year with judges “impressed with the many changes that the team have implemented over the past year to deal with the various covid restrictions, and with how they have come out of the pandemic stronger.”

In accommodation, The Grand, York “once again delivered a true five-star experience for York” winning the Large Hotel of the Year award. Heritage Escapes takes Self Catering Accommodation of the Year, with “a near faultless experience”.

Tower Guest House is awarded B&B and Guest House of the Year with the researcher finding “no room for improvement” and Wigwam Holidays Ball Hall Farm takes Camping, Glamping and Holiday Park of the Year for being “an impressive venue”.

The Visit York Tourism Awards 2022 introduced two new categories, including the Resilience & Innovation Award. This award honours organisations who have built on their strengths, innovated their business and showed incredible resilience during a difficult time for the industry. The judges commented that “the team at The Web Adventure Park has demonstrated incredible resilience during a very challenging time. We were impressed by their grit and determination, with their campaigning on behalf of all indoor soft play areas and with how they put children’s mental health so high on their agenda.”

The second new award for 2022, the Unsung Hero category recognises an individual working for a tourism business who excels in their role and deserves to be applauded for their work and commitment to the industry. The judges commented that this “was a very difficult category to judge as each of the finalists has gone above and beyond. Adam Wardale at Middletons is a very deserving winner. As well as being instrumental in transforming the hotel into a luxury destination, he has undertaken a number of initiatives to benefit the community such as his work with local prisoners. He is inspiring and a credit to York.”

This year’s charity partner for the Visit York Tourism Awards is the Family Holiday Charity, which will be fundraising throughout the evening to raise funds for families to experience their first holidays.

Sarah Loftus, Managing Director at Make It York, said: “All of the finalists and winners of this year’s Visit York Tourism Awards have a lot to be proud of. After an incredibly challenging couple of years for our tourism industry, they’ve demonstrated perseverance, resilience and creativity. We’re so pleased to be able to celebrate their achievements this evening and offer a huge congratulations to all of our winners.”

David Horne, Managing Director at LNER, said: “We are pleased to support the Awards to help celebrate the individuals and businesses that make York such an attractive destination, with thousands of visitors travelling with us to this great city and wider region every week. Congratulations to all of the finalists and winners. We are proud of the role LNER plays in York’s tourism industry, with our business delivering an annual contribution of more than £486 million to the Yorkshire and Humber economy. We’re already looking forward to welcoming more people to York this year to enjoy and experience the world-class attractions, sights and shops on offer.”

Councillor Darryl Smalley: Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Communities, said: “York is well known for its vibrant and flourishing tourism sector and these awards give us the chance to celebrate the incredible businesses that York is lucky enough to be home to. It is a significant achievement to be shortlisted amongst so many excellent businesses. Congratulations to the well-deserved winners of this year’s awards for all they contribute to our city!”

Visit York Tourism Awards Winners 2022:

B&B and Guest House of the Year – Sponsored by Morrell Middleton

Winner: Tower Guest House

Finalists: MonkBridge House, Westergate House

Camping, Glamping and Holiday Park of the Year – Sponsored by The Fabl

Winner: Wigwam Holidays Ball Hall Farm

Finalists: Springwood Shepherd Huts Glamping York, Wolds Walk Glamping

Experience of the Year – Sponsored by Destination Core

Winner: The Bloody Tour of York

Finalists: Castle Howard, The Deathly Dark Tours, The Cookery School at The Grand, York,

Event of the Year – Sponsored by Rugby League World Cup
Winner: York Maze

Highly Commended: That JORVIK Viking Thing

Finalists: The Great Ryedale Maze, York Balloon Fiesta

Large Hotel of the Year – Sponsored by Streamline Taxis

Winner: The Grand, York

Highly Commended: Sandburn Hall Hotel

Finalists: Hotel Indigo York, Middletons Hotel, The Principal York

Large Visitor Attraction of the Year – Sponsored by YO1 Radio
Winner: JORVIK Viking Centre

Finalists: The York Dungeon, York Art Gallery, York’s Chocolate Story

New Tourism Business of the Year – Sponsored by City Cruises
Winner: The Deathly Dark Tours

Finalists: Malmaison York, Sandburn Hall Hotel, York Riverside Apartments

Pub of the Year – Sponsored by Hunter Gee Holroyd
Winner: The Drovers Arms Restaurant & Country Pub

Finalists: House of Trembling Madness Lendal, House of Trembling Madness Stonegate

Self Catering Accommodation of the Year – Sponsored by Clarion Housing

Winner: Heritage Escapes (York)

Finalists: Roomzzz Aparthotels – York City, Staycity Aparthotels, The Enchantment Chamber, The Riverside York (Finalist)

Resilience and Innovation Award – Sponsored by Fabler & Co

Winner: The Web Adventure Park

Finalists: The Deathly Dark Tours, The Drovers Arms Restaurant & Country Pub, The North Yorkshire Moors Railway, The Web Adventure Park, Trembling Madness Ltd, York Gin

Shop Experience of the Year* – Sponsored by Fidomoney
Winner: York Gin

Finalists: The Antiques Centre York, York’s Chocolate Story

Small Hotel of the Year – Sponsored by Hospitality Staffing
Winner: Grays Court Hotel & The Bow Room Restaurant

Finalists: Galtres Lodge, The Judge’s Lodging

Small Visitor Attraction of the Year – Sponsored by Fowlers of York

Winner: Mother Shipton’s

Finalists: Fairfax House, York Army Museum

Taste of York Award – Sponsored by The York Roast Co.
Winner: The Bow Room Restaurant at Grays Court Hotel

Finalists: Forest at Galtres Lodge, Mr Chippy York, Plush Café, The Drovers Arms Restaurant & Country Pub

Unsung Hero Award - Sponsored by LNER

Winner: Adam Wardale, General Manager at Middletons Hotel

Finalists: Frank Caulfield, Porter at Dean Court Hotel and Norbert Lawrie, Kitchen Porter at Galtres Lodge

*Visit York only. These categories are not eligible to go forward to the Visit England Awards for Excellence.

Photos from the awards ceremony will be available on Friday 4^th March.

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Sarah Foster, Communications Manager at Make It York

Email: comms@makeityork.com

Notes to Editors:

Make It York

Visit York is a part of Make It York and is the leisure tourism brand

Under the brand Visit York, Make It York’s aim is to market York as a must-see world-class destination to the leisure visitor and ensure investment to develop the quality of tourism in York.

About Family Holiday Charity

We help families get time away together, often for the first time ever.

We’re here for families’ children who have never seen the sea, for teenagers who can’t remember when they last saw their mum smile. For parents having to choose between a day out and a new pair of school shoes. For young carers, kinship carers, families facing illness isolation and bereavement.

Holidays open up new possibilities. There’s time to reconnect, to try new things, and to make happy memories together. Time for running, playing, climbing trees and flying kites, time for picnics and bare feet. There’s time enough to share a laugh and watch the tide come in – for buckets and spades and sandy sandwiches.

St Nicholas Fair to return for 30th Anniversary

Events, Make It York News, Markets, St Nicholas Fair / By Make It York

After a hugely successful St Nicholas Fair in 2021, Make It York have confirmed that plans are already underway for Christmas 2022 with the popular fair set to return on 17^th November to 23^rd December.

This year marks the 30th Anniversary of St Nicholas Fair, which has been a staple in York’s streets during the festive period since 1992. The famous alpine chalets line Parliament Street and St Sampson’s Square creating a festive wonderland, with an array of local traders and artisan products.

In 2021, St Nicholas Fair influenced 71% of visitors to come to York – with 3 in 10 visiting for the market alone.* Traffic to the Christmas content on the Visit York website exceeded 700,000 views, with Visit York social channels reaching over 1.4 million. There was over 140 pieces of media coverage, which had a combined reach of over 19 million. Plus, a national marketing campaign including national radio adverts and 50,000 print Christmas guides which were distributed across the city.

Make It York’s research into 2021 also demonstrated that St Nicholas Fair had a positive impact on other businesses within the city. 32% of visitor spend was at the Christmas Market itself, with 41% shopping elsewhere and 20% eating and drinking in venues away from the market.*

St Nicholas Fair was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, with Visit York hosting a virtual market online. 2021 saw the second year of the Virtual Christmas Market, which allowed shoppers unable to travel to have the opportunity to buy from local traders online.

Tendering is now open for St Nicholas Fair 2022. To be involved in a special year for the market, please find out more here. The deadline for applications is 4^th March 2022.

*Data based on 200 people interviewed by Qa Research at York Christmas Markets 2021. Base: 169 visitors and 31 residents

For further information please contact:

Sarah Foster and Brittany Guymer, Communications team at Make It York

Email: comms@makeityork.com

Notes to Editors

About Make It York

Make It York’s purpose is to develop and promote the city and its surroundings – nationally and internationally – as a vibrant and attractive place to live, visit, study, work and do business. Its mission is to grow the economic prosperity and wider wellbeing of York and its citizens. In practice, this means delivering a range of projects and programmes based around our corporate strategic priorities. These are:

City positioning and profile-raising

Ensuring an exciting city centre
Delivering the city’s ground-breaking Cultural Strategy

Visit York is a part of Make It York and is the leisure tourism brand

Under the brand Visit York, Make It York’s aim is to market York as a must-see world-class destination to the leisure visitor and ensure investment to develop the quality of tourism in York.

Shambles Market wins ‘Best Outdoor Market’ Award

Make It York News, Markets, Shambles Market / By Make It York

York’s Shambles Market has won the ‘Best Outdoor Market’ category at this year’s Great British Market Awards, organised by The National Association of British Market Authorities (NABMA).

Announced at the prestigious awards ceremony in Birmingham on Thursday 3rd February, Shambles Market Manager Lucy Lines and Senior Market Operations Supervisor Joe Etheridge collected the award.

The National Market Traders Federation and NABMA judged Shambles Market as the Best Outdoor Market, with the awards seeing one of the largest public votes on record.

Simon Baynes MP for Clwyd South and the Chairman of the All-Party Markets Parliamentary Group presented the awards. On winning the award, the judges commented that: “This is a highly popular market in a traditional location with a huge appeal to both locals and has a significant tourist trade. In the not-too-distant past, it was considered to be in somewhat of a decline, but it is a market that has put in a lot of effort to restore a quality market reputation. The market boasts many excellent businesses and collectively, with strong and passionate management, they have enabled the market to re-establish itself in this iconic tourist city. It is a market with a buzz, it is full of traders and is both an attractive tourist and general market with a huge influence on the local economy.”

Lucy Lines, Market Manager at Shambles Market, said: “We are so thrilled to receive this award! Shambles Market has seen a renaissance in recent times with local residents using the market more frequently during the pandemic. York’s community now more than ever have sought out an experience locally with quality goods, produce and an excellent food offer. York residents got behind us by shopping local at the market, supporting our local traders. The support from locals was crucial to winning this award for York, it’s not just for the Shambles markets traders and Make It York to be proud of, this is with huge thanks to the community support too. I’d also like to say a special thank you to First Bus York, who partnered with us last year and have continued to support our vision and helped us bring more customers into the city centre to shop with us. We’re incredibly excited about the future of Shambles Market, with lots of exciting events in the pipeline”

Sarah Loftus, Managing Director at Make It York, said: “We are incredibly proud of our Markets Team for winning the Best Large Outdoor Market in the UK. It is a brilliant achievement and well deserved. Shambles Market is a brilliant example of how locals have continued to support local traders in our city and a huge thank you to all our traders who make Shambles Market such a special asset in York.”

For more information about Shambles Market, visit: Shambles Market | Visit York

NOTES TO EDITORS:

For more information, please contact:

Sarah Foster and Brittany Guymer, Communications team at Make It York

Comms@makeityork.com

About Make It York

Make It York’s purpose is to develop and promote the city and its surroundings – nationally and internationally – as a vibrant and attractive place to live, visit, study, work and do business. Its mission is to grow the economic prosperity and wider wellbeing of York and its citizens. In practice, this means delivering a range of projects and programmes based around our corporate strategic priorities.

These are:

City positioning and profile-raising

Ensuring an exciting city centre
Delivering the city’s ground-breaking Cultural Strategy

About NABMA

The National Association of British Market Authorities (NABMA) have been representing and working on behalf of our member markets for more than 100 years. Markets from across the whole of the UK form our membership. NABMA works with a range of organisations including Government to promote and campaign for markets.

As well as the Great British Market awards, NABMA operates annual campaign Love Your Local Market, which takes place in May every year.

To find out more about NABMA visit the website: nabma.com

First sculpture unveiled ahead of York Ice Trail 2022

Make It York News / By Make It York

Last month, it was announced that York Ice Trail 2022 would transport visitors and residents ‘Around the World’ with the theme of this year’s sculptures. With almost one month to go until over 40 spectacular ice sculptures line York’s streets, the first from this year’s trail has been unveiled.

Make It York’s ‘Around the World’ ice sculpture, featuring a hot air balloon and famous landmarks, landed in York’s historic The Shambles this morning. Photographed by Charlotte Graham, this is the first ice sculpture to be revealed from this year’s trail. Visitors will have the chance to see the sculpture for themselves when it lands on Blake Street, near the Visitor Information Centre, on 5^th and 6^th March.

York Ice Trail is set to be a magical weekend, with four ice sculptures to find at Middletons Hotel, who are transforming their grounds into a wonderland. There’s plenty to keep the family entertained, from giant playing cards and pink flamingos out on the Cottage Lawn to ‘Drink Me’ cocktails, specially curated by York Gin. Guests will also be able to tuck into a decadent Alice in Wonderland themed Afternoon Tea and admire the Thwaites Shire Horses, dressed in all their finery for the special event.

Sculptures not to be missed this year include main sponsors of York Ice Trail, First York’s Park & Ride Bus. Plus, York BID have sponsored seven sculptures this year – one for every continent of the world. City of York Council’s ‘The York Skyline’ will show off the city’s sights in the ice and the Rugby League World Cup Trophy will be carved out of ice to celebrate York hosting eight matches at the tournament in autumn.

There’ll also be live ice carving at St Sampson’s Square with Icebox, who create the ice sculptures. Plus, there’ll be opportunities to have a go at ice carving yourself on the graffiti wall in Parliament Street.

The hugely popular event, which saw 31,000 people participating in 2020’s ‘Fantastical Fiction and Fairy Tales’ trail, was cancelled last year due to the pandemic. This year’s event was initially set to take place in February. The precautionary decision was taken in January to postpone this year’s York Ice Trail to 5^th and 6^th March due to rising Covid-19 cases and based on guidance from the city’s Safety Advisory Group, Public Health and City of York Council.

This March, families and friends will have the opportunity to travel through York’s streets and find over 40 ice sculptures designed and sponsored by local businesses in York.

York Ice Trail is a Make It York event, with main sponsors First York.

Sarah Loftus, Managing Director at Make It York, said: “We’re delighted to be bringing back the much-loved York Ice Trail event for 2022, and although slightly later than planned, it will be worth the wait! After a couple of years where many of us haven’t been able to travel too far, this year’s theme will bring sculptures inspired from ‘around the world’ to the streets of York. There are over 40 ice sculptures to find this year, which have all been kindly sponsored by local businesses.”

Councillor Keith Aspden, Leader of the Council, said: “York Ice Trail was, I’m sure, missed by many last year, so it’s excellent to see the much-loved event return once again in March for residents, families and visitors to enjoy safely.

“Our city is well known and loved for its vibrant businesses, so many of whom have joined the festivities this year, with an impressive 40 sculptures set to bring some extra magic to the city. With so many sculptures and ways to get involved, this year’s festival promises to be another unmissable event.”

John Godfrey, Head of Marketing at First York, said: “We’ve been a supporter of the Ice Trail for three years with our own sculpture and know what anticipation and interest the event creates. This builds on our commitment to help people enjoy the leisure and social life York is famous for and look forward to seeing thousands of visitors makes the trip to marvel at the attractions around the city.”

For more information, visit York Ice Trail | Visit York and watch this year’s York Ice Trail promotional video here. #YorkIceTrail

For more information, please contact:

Sarah Foster, Communications Manager at Make It York

Comms@makeityork.com

Notes to Editors

York Ice Trail 2022 is taking place on 5^th and 6^th March, from 10am. #YorkIceTrail

York Ice Trail is a Make It York event, supported by First York.

About Make It York

Make It York’s purpose is to develop and promote the city and its surroundings – nationally and internationally – as a vibrant and attractive place to live, visit, study, work and do business. Its mission is to grow the economic prosperity and wider wellbeing of York and its citizens. In practice, this means delivering a range of projects and programmes based around our corporate strategic priorities.

These are:

City positioning and profile-raising

Ensuring an exciting city centre
Delivering the city’s ground-breaking Cultural Strategy

Final list of York Ice Trail 2022 sculptures:

Around the World, Blake Street – Provided by Make It York

The Home of Pizza & Pasta, Blake Street – provided by ASK Italian
The York Skyline, Exhibition Square – Provided by City of York Council
The Queen of Hearts, Lendal – Provided by The Judge’s Lodging
Oceania: Bruce (Nemo), Wellington Row – Provided by York BID
May I Take Your Luggage?, Station Rise – Provided by The Grand, York
70 Years Anniversary Oak, Station Road – Provided by North York Moors National Park
Leap of Faith by Gudelia Li, Hudson Quarter – Provided by Hudson Quarter
South America: Kevin (UP), Micklegate – Provided by York BID
The Executioner’s Block, Middletons – Provided by Middletons Hotel
Cheshire Cat, Middletons – Provided by York Gin
The White Rabbit, Middletons – Provided by Middletons Hotel
Mad Hatters Tea Party, Middletons – Provided by Middletons Hotel
Take the Helm, Captain!, Kings Staith – Provided by City Cruises
Penguin on Parade, Tower Street – Provided by York Army Museum

Africa: Simba (Lion King), Castlegate – Provided by York BID

Wanted: Dick Turpin, Spurriergate – Provided by York Dungeon
Big Ben Strikes Ate O’Clock, High Ousegate – Provided by Ate O’Clock
The Vikings, Coppergate Centre – Provided by Coppergate Centre
The Melting Earth, Piccadilly – Provided by Spark: York
Antartica: Olaf (Frozen), Fossgate – Provided by York BID
Europe: Remi (Ratatouille), The Shambles – Provided by York BID

The LNER Azuma Selfie. Kings Square – Provided by LNER
North America: Pepita (Coco), Goodramgate – Provided by York BID

The Sovereign’s Orb, Minster Piazza – Provided by York Minster
Fabergé’s Trans-Siberian Railway Egg, High Petergate – Provided by National Railway Museum
Eco Rocks Diamond by Kay Bradley, Low Petergate – Provided by Bradleys
Waitress, Grape Lane – Provided by Lucia Bar
Atlas the Turtle, Little Stonegate – Provided by Turtle Bay
The Bettys Express Train, Davygate – Provided by Bettys

Heavenly Delight, St Helen’s Square – Provided by Heavenly Desserts
Asia: Sisu (Raya and the Last Dragon), Coney Street – Provided by York BID
The Astronaut, Davygate – Provided by Shepherd Group
Space Shuttle, Feasegate – Provided by Viewpoint
Live Carving, St Sampson’s Square – Provided by York Ice Trail
Cow Print, St Sampson’s Square – Provided by Cut and Craft
Rugby League World Cup Trophy, Parliament Street – Celebrating York as a host city
Norris the Knight, Parliament Street – Provided by York Knights
Flying Carpet in the Market, Shambles Market – Provided by Shambles Market
Bug Count Cash Giveaway, Parliament Street – Provided by York Mix
Wizard Golf Challenge, Parliament Street – Provided by The Hole in the Wand
Graffiti Wall, Parliament Street – Provided by York Ice Trail
First York Park & Ride, Parliament Street – Provided by First York

Highlights from Visit York Tourism Conference 2022

Make It York News / By Make It York

(Thursday 13 January 2022) The virtual Visit York Tourism Conference event opened this morning to 264 delegates, with this year’s theme exploring ‘tourism in a post-pandemic world’. Make It York’s Managing Director, Sarah Loftus, opened proceedings by asking ‘What kind of Tourism do we what for York’? We must think big, be ambitious and build on the strength York has achieved to date. We have the ability to build something very special as, after all we have been voted the best City in the UK.”

After a challenging 22 months for the tourism industry, Sarah Loftus shared a six minute showreel to highlight the key milestones achieved by Visit York and their members during the pandemic. Visit York have supported over 850 members in 2021/22 to date, with a 94% retention rate. In 2019, York attracted 8.4 million visitors who spent £909 million and supported 28,400 jobs. The overarching message from Make It York is “our goal is to work collaboratively to drive York’s visitor economy forwards… and get back to these pre-Covid figures”.

Introduced by BBC Look North’s Clare Frisby, Richard Nicholls, Head of Research and Forecasting at VisitBritain, was the first guest speaker to present to VYCON delegates. Richard focused on ‘Inbound tourism prospects and trends’ and opened his presentation with some insights on the effect Omicron has had on inbound international flight bookings: “You can see here very clearly the impact of Omicron. Back in October, early November, the inbound flight bookings had started to recover. This chart here shows flight bookings in each week, indexed to 2 years before, the pre-Covid norm, and that was back up to about –40% or so at the high point last Autumn. 40% below what we would see at normal levels. You can see it plunge down to -83% just before Christmas. It just started to pick up slightly in the week post-Christmas… and we hope that will be a sign of an improvement in the booking situation as we head into 2022.”

Richard Nicholls also shared some research from tourism economics who are “forecasting it will take until 2025, before we surpassed the 2019 levels of inbound tourism, either volume or in this case, value. And bear in mind that there’s going to be inflation over this period, perhaps if you adjust for inflation, it might take a little bit longer still, so a slow build back.”

In Autumn 2020, Make it York commissioned Group NAO to elaborate on how York’s visitor economy could ‘build back better’ post pandemic. Peter Rømer Hansen talked delegates through their “5 dogmas for the new visitor economy: the city belongs to the citizens, growth in visitor numbers is not a goal in itself, tourism can be a regenerative resource, leadership needed and tourism is a fluid concept”.

Peter Rømer Hansen also shared the five key messages that came from their discussions with key stakeholders in York: “We need a grand plan for urban development and the role of tourism connecting the dots of a thriving city, let’s maintain a strong connection with the locals who have rediscovered the city centre during COVID, we need leadership to become a sustainable destination, all in on culture! – and not just heritage – is a broadly shared aspiration and finally, we have a lot of things going, perhaps also a bit of complacency.”

The full report from Group NAO, ‘Y Tourism?’, which explores what kind of tourism York wants in the future – and how can the visitor economy make York a better city can be found here.

Finally, Aileen Crawford, Head of Tourism & Conventions at Glasgow Convention Bureau, discussed how Glasgow has grown their business tourism in line with the city’s sustainable strategy: “Back in 2016, we realised that the fastest growing key sector for our conference world was in low-carbon and energy related conferences. So we were looking to see how we could match the city story and convention bureau support to attract more low carbon and energy related conferences. In 2019, our last full year of conference business, you can see that we hosted 25 conferences in this key theme and that attracted over 11,500 delegates worth £8.5 million to the local economy from delegate spend.”

Aileen also touched upon the demand for more sustainable tourism: “Just looking for searches in your own city, you can see that TripAdvisor, Conde Nast, Expedia, allow green searches to come on board. And you can see that that is driven by the customer, driven by the guests, wanting to stay in your hotels and wanting to come to our cities for meetings. We noticed that the Glasgow Convention Bureau website, we have implemented a search for green accredited venues and hotels, that search went up by 150% in 2021.”

Clare Frisby then chaired the Talking Heads panel, with Castle Howard’s Abbi Ollive, York BID’s Andrew Lowson, Galtres Lodge’s Rebecca Hill and LNER’s Kate McFerran. All panellists said they were optimistic for York’s future, with Abbi Ollive sharing that Castle Howard has “just come out of the back of a record-breaking Christmas… bigger and better than 2019” and that by “pre-ticketing some of our big events and phasing the entry, the visitor experience goes up”.

Andrew Lowson from York BID started off with some positive stats from York’s footfall data: “if you look at this December just gone and compare it with December 2019, before the pandemic, York was only 5% down in terms of its footfall and that was compared to the UK average of –22% down”. Andrew also addressed the “myth that local people don’t use York city centre”, as data shows that 30% of those who used the city centre in December 2021 were residents (residing inside the outer ring-road) and last summer, in the height of the tourism season between July and September, 26% of spend came from local people.

York has recovered well from the loss of international travellers, with Galtres Lodge’s Rebecca Hill citing that “what we’ve lost has been replaced with other markets – residents, locals, a bit further afield staycationers in the hotels… Aside from a few (businesses) who have said yes international is a really big draw for us, the majority have said yes whilst there has been a decline from that market it has been replaced, sometimes over and above, by other markets.”

Headline sponsors LNER’s Kate McFerran said they brought “around half a million people into York last year” and that leisure has led their recovery to the extent that when they reached November/December 2021, they had reached 92.3% of their pre-Covid figures.

Make It York’s Chair, Greg Dyke, closed the conference by recognising how “devastating” the pandemic was initially for the tourism industry and well done to York’s businesses for surviving it. Greg Dyke also commented on “how increasingly important sustainability is going to be to the tourism industry. If we want the tourists of the future, we will have to demonstrate that York is a green city and the plan to make York and North Yorkshire carbon neutral as soon as possible, I think is important to all our businesses”.

All slides and presentations from VYCON22 can be found here.

Notes to editors:

VYCON22 is a Make It York event, supported by headline sponsors LNER. The event is also sponsored by fidomoney, Golden Tours, Deans Computer Services Ltd and YorkMix Radio.

For further information please contact:

Sarah Foster and Brittany Guymer – Communications team at Make It York

Email: comms@makeityork.com

About Make It York

Make It York’s purpose is to develop and promote the city and its surroundings – nationally and internationally – as a vibrant and attractive place to live, visit, study, work and do business. The company’s remit covers leisure and business tourism, city centre management, festivals and events and culture.

Visit York is a part of Make It York and is the leisure tourism brand

Under the brand Visit York, Make It York’s aim is to market York as a must-see world-class destination to the leisure visitor and ensure investment to develop the quality of tourism in York.

About the Speakers

Richard Nicholls, Head of Research and Forecasting at VisitBritain

Richard Nicholls joined VisitBritain in 2015 as Head of Research and Forecasting. He and his team are responsible for analysis of inbound tourism data, insights and prospects both for VisitBritain and for the benefit of the wider UK tourism industry.

Signe Jungersted and Peter Rømer Hansen, Founding Partners at Group NAO

Signe Jungersted and Peter Rømer Hansen are founding partners in innovation and strategy agency Group NAO. Group NAO works with strategic transformation and innovation within the experience and visitor economy. Recent projects include 101sustainableideas.com with Gothenburg, Power of Community series with European Cities Marketing, ‘Tourism Taxes by Design’ and ‘Time for DMOcracy’ as multi-client projects.

Aileen Crawford, Head of Tourism & Conventions at Glasgow Convention Bureau

Aileen is Head of Tourism & Conventions at the award-winning Glasgow Convention Bureau, responsible for the successful positioning of Glasgow as a conference destination for national and international association meetings. In addition, Aileen’s role includes Destination Management, working in partnership with industry, VisitScotland and Glasgow City Council in collaboration to develop and improve the visitor experience.

VYCON22 Panellists

Abbi Ollive, Head of Marketing and Sales at Castle Howard

Andrew Lowson, Executive Director at York BID

Rebecca Hill, Managing Director at Galtres Lodge

Kate McFerran, Communications Director at LNER

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