Plans to launch new Yorkshire-wide tourism body in doubt as launch is shelved

North Yorkshire Council has confirmed it and other parts of Yorkshire are developing their own localised proposals for what are known as Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs) - the Government’s new name for tourism boards previously formally called Destination Management Organisations (DMOs).

It is intended there will be new LVEPs across five areas – North, South and West Yorkshire, East Riding and York.

It is possible a formal Yorkshire-wide organisation could still ultimately come into being.

The Government has granted £2.25m to North East England to pilot what is known as a Destination Development Partnership running across seven local authority areas over the next couple of years.

The partnerships are envisioned as a higher-ranking body to LVEPs and could be rolled out to other areas such as Yorkshire if the pilot proves successful.

But the situation presents a further delay to any creation of a region-wide replacement to Welcome to Yorkshire.

When council leaders announced in March 2021 they would stop funding Welcome to Yorkshire following a series of reputational and financial scandals, they said work would begin on the creation of a new regional DMO to replace it.

The Leaders’ Board attempted to buy the WtY name and assets from administrators but was outbid by private firm Silicon Dales, which has subsequently largely concentrated on building up its yorkshire.com website rather than traditional tourism agency activities.

In January this year, North Yorkshire Council leader Carl Les said a "modest" pan-Yorkshire tourism body would be set up following agreement by the Yorkshire Leaders' Board, which is made up of 22 council leaders plus mayors Tracy Brabin and Oliver Coppard.

A separate statement from the Leaders’ Board had said that the work of the DMO would be overseen by Barnsley Council with an anticipated start date in April this year.

But a new statement by the Leaders’ Board has changed the position to describe the overarching regional work as a “partnership”. It follows Visit Hull and East Yorkshire being granted LVEP status in April alongside 11 other tourism organisations nationally.

The Board statement said: “The Yorkshire Leaders Board has agreed to the development of a partnership across the region’s Councils and Combined Authorities to support the tourism sector in the region. This partnership would build on the progress being made at a local and sub-regional level and focus on strengthening and marketing the Yorkshire brand for wider benefit.”

North Yorkshire Council is now starting work on its own tourism strategy and intends to bid for Government funding in September towards setting up its own LVEP.

North Yorkshire Council’s assistant director for growth David Caulfield said: “Our current engagement with business will help us to develop a new destination management plan for North Yorkshire. We are also developing proposals for a LVEP for North Yorkshire that will involve both private and public sector partners and will consider the infrastructure needed to help the visitor economy to thrive.

“Similar partnerships are being developed by councils in other parts of Yorkshire.

“Regionally, these LVEPs will come together to market Yorkshire nationally and around the world. Our activity in North Yorkshire will align with and complement work done regionally.”