Future of Yorkshire tourism

How to secure the future of the Yorkshire tourism industry

6/7/2020

I am worried about the future of Yorkshire's tourism industry. Businesses are struggling. We're missing opportunities. Our visitor economy isn't as strong as it could be.

Some of my concerns are due to Covid, but most started well before March. This is what bothers me:

There's no overall strategy for Yorkshire tourism. We don't have any concrete aims in terms of what we're trying to achieve, the markets we're trying to target, the type of tourism we might want, how we want Yorkshire to be seen, how we can generate more revenue.

We haven't had any kind of open debate about Yorkshire tourism for years. Welcome to Yorkshire has had its difficulties but we've not had a proper conversation about what its role should be or what we need it to actually do.

Many different organisations, individuals and businesses are involved in developing and promoting tourism in Yorkshire. We need to bring them together, to enhance collaboration and be more effective.

Public funding is now even more limited than before, but local authorities are continuing to fund Welcome to Yorkshire, despite the lack of any Yorkshire-wide tourism strategy. We need more transparency on those decisions, to consider all options. Public funding is intended to help develop the visitor economy, increase revenue and support businesses (I think) but there's limited consultation and even less consideration of the actions that are necessary to make the visitor economy stronger.

This presentation looks at what we could do to secure the future of the Yorkshire tourism industry.
Please make sure your speakers are on. If you have comments, please add them below or email Susan Briggs.

3 Comments

Anthony Miller link

7/7/2020 17:19:58

Interesting presentation, thank you. One of my overriding thoughts all the way through was - looking at Yorkshire as a whole - about the different elements that make up the county and the different reasons visitors come to the county. How do the different parts - North, East, South and West Yorkshire - feed into the umbrella organisation? Is the umbrella organisation Welcome to Yorkshire and does/did it work that way? Did we in North Yorkshire feed into that "Yorkshire Shop Window" as you named it in your final slide?

Susan Briggs

7/7/2020 17:27:03

Thank you Anthony. One of the issues is that although the different elements feed into the umbrella of Yorkshire, it's ad hoc, and not everything is promoted. A more strategic approach would help determine how the umbrella promotion can work, and what can be promoted locally or more directly. Yes the umbrella and 'Yorkshire shop window' is/could be Welcome to Yorkshire - although there are other options too. The changed market place sometimes means the umbrella and shop window is irrelevant, but sometimes it can be useful, for example in activity that seeks to promote further afield, or building on key themes. My key point is that without open discussion and a strategic it's a not very effective mish-mash. Main tactics employed are hope and wishful thinking...

Anna Lupton link

7/7/2020 23:35:18

Thank you Susan for taking the time to share this presentation with us. It gives us a lot to think about and how we should approach things. I do feel it needs to be led by person/persons who have had years of experience in the hospitality industry

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