THOUSANDS more big-spending Americans could be enticed to York following a successful visit to the Big Apple by city tourist chiefs.

A delegation from the city - led by York Tourism Bureau's PR manager Kay Hyde - recently flew to New York to "sell the city" to more than 100 US travel writers and editors.

It formed part of a major offensive to get more US visitors over here in an attempt to claw back some of those who stopped coming following the September 11 terror attacks.

Ms Hyde declared the visit a "huge success" as she has arranged for up to 500 journalists from the American Travel Writers Guild to visit York as part of their tour of the north of England. Members of the prestigious body, The Travel Writers Guild Of America, have also agreed to stay in the city for five days in April.

Last year's visitor survey results found 26 per cent of all overseas visits were from the United States.

Prior to September 11, 500,000 Americans came to York every year, compared with 260,000 who visited last year.

That was still up by 50,000 on the previous 12 months, but the bureau thinks they can continue the improvement.

Ms Hyde made a number of presentations to US travel writers at the two-day European Media Exchange held at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel, where tourist chiefs from every major destination in Europe get to market their city.

"A lot of journalists requested to see us, which shows there is a great deal of interest in York," she said.

"There was a lot of competition and we had to give them a lot of reasons to come."

Ms Hyde said there was particular interest in the Bar Convent, the National Railway Museum's Flying Scotsman attraction, along with the city's many historic sites.

"We are working on a long- term plan and we won't see the results of this overnight," she said.

"But it's really important that we tap into this market and raise the profile."

Ms Hyde said while in the Big Apple she met up with JJ Doran, manager of the Hilton Hotel, and they talked about forging stronger links in the future.

"It's all about building up our relationships," she added.

The total number of visitors to York was four million last year, of which about 260,000 were from the US.