City of Culture sends hotel bookings through the roof

The Freedom Festival, part of Hull's tenure as UK City of Culture, helped attract "unprecedented" numbers of visitors to the city. Picture: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

The latest data reveals demand soared between July and September, driven by a packed calendar of festivals, events and activities.

The spike in Hull compares to a national average 20 per cent increase over the same period.

The figures also show rising interest in Hull from international visitors, with growth in demand from travellers from the US, Denmark and The Netherlands.

Artists performing in Hull's General Cemetery during a performances of Depart, part of Hull UK City of Culture 2017. Pictures: Danny Lawson/PA Wire

Anthony Yates, Tourism Manager for Visit Hull and East Yorkshire said: “Hull has seen unprecedented accommodation bookings in the lead up to and during 2017 and these newly released figures from Expedia pay testament to that.

“As well as the extra visitor spend that overnight visits generate, hotels and restaurants are staffing up to meet the growth in demand which is great news for local employment and the creation of jobs.”

Gary Osborne, who owns the Kingston Theatre Hotel said they had seen a 70 per cent rise in visitors, many of whom were first-timers.

Hull is now in the final stages of its City of Culture year, but plans have been revealed to continue the arts programme for another 20 years.

The city’s first four star hotel, the £20m DoubleTree hotel by Hilton Hotel, is opening later this year, while the £36m new conference and music centre off Castle Street is due to open late next year.

Marketing director for Hilton Hull Helen Symonds said the new hotel on Ferensway would have the largest conference space in Hull and East Yorkshire.

She said the year so far had been “fantastic”, adding: “It’s a great platform for next year. What we want is to have more conferences, exhibitions and large scale events and bring them to our area, when they wouldn’t previously as we didn’t have anything large enough to accommodate them.”

City of Culture chief executive Martin Green said : “These figures represent an incredible achievement for Hull and I’m sure that those who have visited for an event will have left with a positive impression of a city that has a lot to offer.

“Our diverse Freedom season over the summer was packed full of events across the arts that were in huge demand by visitors and residents alike, from The Royal Ballet’s Opening the New, the fabulous LGBT 50 festival and the truly wonderful immersive theatre experience of One Day, Maybe to returning established events such as the Freedom Festival, Humber Street Sesh and so much more.

“Our fourth season, Tell the World, is already off to a flying start with even more incredible events bringing people to the city and with lots more to come.”

Between April and June, Hull’s figures were also up 60 per cent on the previous year.

Area manager for Expedia Nicola Cunningham said: “An ongoing and strong programme of cultural events throughout the year has proved attractive to visitors and helped position Hull as a destination of choice during 2017, which is obviously great news for hoteliers and tourism across the region.”