Official figures show this year’s York Residents Festival was the best ever. In all, 22,654 residents turned out for the event – an increase of over 7,000 from the 2008 figures – with many attractions seeing record numbers of residents through their doors.

York Residents Festival, which was organised for the first time by tourism body Visit York, and was run over the weekend of January 31 and February 1, is the new name for the city’s annual Residents First Weekend. Attracting about 20,000 York residents annually and now in its 13th year, the event is organised to offer local people the chance to explore their city, with attractions offering free or discounted admission to those who can produce a valid YorkCard.

YorkBoat proved the most popular attraction of the weekend, taking more than 2,000 residents on its Daytime City Cruise throughout Saturday and Sunday.

Jorvik Viking Centre, which extended its offer to residents into the week following the festival, saw a record 1,794 residents visit the attraction, and Clifford’s Tower saw a similar number, with 1,800 visitors.

In addition, many of the other attractions involved in Residents Festival 2009 saw their best visitor numbers in the history of the event, including: DIG (626); THE Grand Opera House (690); York Dungeon (1,130); the Cold War Bunker (269); the Roman Bath Museum (1,010); the Mansion House (80); and the Yorkshire Museum of Farming at Murton Park (618).

New attractions incorporated into the 2009 programme included The Quilt Museum and Gallery, and Haunted on Stonegate, which both had more than 600 residents drop in over the course of the festival.

Special exhibitions, including the Yorkshire Film Archives, at Tempest Anderson Hall, also proved popular, with more than 400 residents viewing “100 years of York life on film”. The York Glaziers Trust held its opening weekend for its new Bedern workshop during the festival, and saw fully-booked tours of York residents eager to get a glimpse of the York Minster stained-glass conservation in action.

Gillian Cruddas, chief executive of Visit York, said: “We’re delighted at the record turnout for this year’s York Residents Festival. It’s great to see that so many people experienced what the city has to offer.

“We’d like to thank all the businesses in the city that helped make the event such a great success.”

A residents’ survey, conducted over the course of the festival weekend, showed 90 per cent of residents had an awareness of the festival and 75 per cent visited attractions as a result of this.

In addition, 72 per cent of residents visited at least three attractions during the course of the event, with 30 per cent of these visiting five or more exhibitions and attractions. When surveyed, more than 87 per cent of residents recognised the importance of tourism to the local economy. Other benefits recognised included the jobs created in the tourism sector, and the increased facilities for both residents and visitors.