YORK has retained its position as the UK’s fourth favourite city for tourists and visitors, as voted for by readers of the prestigious Condé Nast Traveller guide.

The city follows just behind first place London, second place Edinburgh and third place Bath in the listings.

Kate McMullen, Head of Consumer Products and Marketing at Make It York, said: "Condé Nast Traveller is one of the most respected travel guides and this award is voted for by the readers, which makes it a great accolade for York.

"We’re delighted to have held on to our fourth position, though of course we’d like to move up a spot next year! What York’s tourism businesses do exceptionally well is to offer our visitors new reasons to visit each year. For example the exciting plans for York Theatre Royal, the recent opening of York Art Gallery and CoCA, the re-opening of the Bar Convent this October and the announcement of York Mystery Plays returning to York Minster next year already give us lots of good news to shout about and offer our visitors new reasons to return."

The Top Ten is completed by Glasgow in fifth place and Liverpool in sixth, followed by Manchester, Cambridge, Cardiff and Newcastle.

Ms McMullen said: "It’s interesting to see that Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester have moved up to fifth, sixth and seventh spots respectively and just goes to show that we cannot rest on our laurels with such strong competition in the short break leisure market.

"York truly is an award-winning city and the Condé Nast Awards are a credit to the hundreds of York’s tourism businesses who excel at offering world-class exhibitions, events, year round visitor experiences, an exciting gastro and shopping scene, as well as a superb range of quality accommodation."

The awards were the 18th Annual Readers’ Travel Awards by Condé Nast Traveller. The magazine also asks its readers for their favourites in a large array of categories, from hotels to airports, islands to cruise ships.

The awards ceremony was held on Tuesday night at London’s Ham Yard Hotel.