TOURISM agency Welcome To Yorkshire launched campaigns to promote the county’s battlefield sites and locations with royal connections at its annual conference yesterday.
The campaigns will also highlight the region’s coastline, arts and film sets, while the Royal Yorkshire drive aims to coincide with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Royal Wedding, which has also inspired a Yorkshire Weddings promotion for venues and services.
More than 1,000 festivals and events will also take place in the countdown to the 2012 Olympic Games.
Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome To Yorkshire, announced the initiatives to more than 1,000 delegates at the Y11 conference, held at The Grand Theatre and Opera House in Leeds, after saying 2010’s campaigns and partnerships resulted in a raft of “amazing” successes.
He said more than 8.7 million viewers watched the television series The Dales, which attracted a 375 per cent increase in page views on Welcome To Yorkshire’s website within 24 hours of the first episode.
He said its 2010 campaign was seen by 52 per cent of adults in higher social groups, with this figure rising to 74.5 per cent in particular targeted northern regions, with 2.4 million seeing the cinema advertising.
The agency is launching a new television advertising campaign this week, which urges visitors to stay in Yorkshire with the phrase “So much, so near, so different. Have a brilliant Yorkshire”.
It is also sponsoring television drama The Royal, Kids Do The Funniest Things and The Paul O’Grady Show to target the family market.
He said: “By bringing people together we are seeing more visitors and further growth to our economy and now is the time to build on this for the future of Yorkshire’s tourism industry. We now have a three year plan and I can guarantee you this: Yorkshire’s profile is going to be bigger and better than ever.”
Yorkshire’s entry for this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show will take inspiration from Yorkshire artists and artists inspired by Yorkshire, such as Henry Moore, David Hockney, and JMW Turner, and with Barbara Hepworth’s ‘Ascending Form’ as the centre piece, framed by an iPad-style easel, inspired by the work of David Hockney.
Lighting a torch for county glory
YORKSHIRE is coming out fighting in the run-up to the Olympic Games.
Determined not to miss out on the Olympic bonanza, tourism agency Welcome To Yorkshire has launched a series of major campaigns designed to bang the county’s drum.
Yorkshire’s coastline, its famous battlefields, its best-known film and TV locations and its arts will all be at the centre of promotional drives. A Royal Yorkshire campaign is being launched to coincide with the Royal Wedding and with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee next year. And there is even to be a TV promotion aimed at urging British people to visit Yorkshire, with the strapline: “So much, so near, so different. Have a brilliant Yorkshire.”
It is excellent to see the region’s tourism bosses being so proactive. Tourism is huge business here – it generates more than £440 million a year for the York economy alone. As we struggle to escape from the worst effects of the recession, we need that income more than ever. But we can’t just sit back and expect people to come, unless we continue to shout about how great this county is: especially with the spotlight shifting to London next year.
We fully support Welcome To Yorkshire’s high-profile approach, therefore.
The only thing we would say is that we hope the agency doesn’t concentrate on less celebrated areas of the county at the expense of York.
Yes, this city has an international profile not enjoyed by the rest of Yorkshire. But we’ve been hit by the recession too, and we need all the help we can get to continue to attract the visitors that are so important to this city.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel