THE FULL line-up of speakers for the Visit York annual tourism conference has been revealed.

The 2019 conference will be held on Thursday, January 24 at York Racecourse, where 300 delegates from across the tourism sector in York, Yorkshire and beyond, are expected to attend.

The theme for the conference is Only in York, which will showcase all of the experiences unique to the city. Headlining is Copenhagen director of development, Signe Jungerstad, who will share their tourism strategy and how, in her words, we’ve reached the end of tourism as we know it.

Head of Visit York, Paul Whiting, said: “We’re delighted Signe has agreed to share the success story of Copenhagen. In such a competitive marketplace York has to pull out all the stops to stand out from other destinations.

"Our aim is to inspire new audiences to visit York through innovative storytelling across all our communications channels.”

Signe will focus on the theme of ‘localhood’ and how today’s travellers want more than ever to connect with local people, local businesses and to discover more local stories. By focussing on promoting ‘Only in York’ experiences such as afternoon tea aboard the National Railway Museum’s Countess of York, or enjoying evensong at York Minster, Visit York aims to inspire new audiences to visit York in 2019."

Paul will reveal the latest tourism figures, share highlights of the tourism year and reveal new plans for marketing York in 2019. New at the conference will be an expert line-up of Talking Heads, who’ll demonstrate how video can boost bookings and increase market share.

Signe said: “Our cities have much in common; a vibrant cultural scene, world-class museums and a strong local pride for what’s on our doorstep. The travel industry is entering an era of change and it’s time to welcome the new traveller. What people want more and more is to connect with a place, get to know the locals and their personal recommendations.”

Paul said: “We need to inspire our visitors to do more, stay longer and crucially keep coming back. We’ll be making sure we maximise the potential to reach our ambition of creating a £1 billion tourism sector by 2024.”