York tries to lure more tourists to area

Tourism chiefs in the city of York are set to launch a new advertising offensive aimed at attracting more visitors to the region. Specific campaigns will target the Belgian, German and Dutch, as York attempts to avoid becoming a casualty of the global credit crunch currently curbing tourism both from Europe to the United Kingdom as well as trans-Atlantic visitors.

If certain projections prove right, and the world is in for a new recession, the ₤85 billion UK travel industry could be in for a rough time. York has always welcomed a good number of American tourists, but their numbers have been dropping in recent years. The 2007 statistics show that only 15 percent of tourists in York came form overseas. York does not figure in the top 5 of British cities visited by tourists, even with numbers like 70,000 Germans, 33,000 Dutch and 10,500 Belgian visitors.

A local tourism chief says, “At a time where consumer finances are tight, spending on leisure is affected and consumers may think twice about booking a long haul holiday. York, however, is very fortunate to have superb access from across Europe and makes for an ideal short break.”