Perfect time to put Leeds in the shop window

Jennifer Young, head of ConferenceLeeds, said the Capital of Culture bid is aligned with the ambition of creating a vibrant city centre.

She doesn’t think the prospect of Britain leaving the European Union is likely to hinder the city’s bid and that with the bidding opportunity Leeds’ profile will “naturally grow”.

Ms Young told The Yorkshire Post: “I would say work on raising the profile of Leeds during the European Capital of Culture 2023 is invaluable. I think that will put culture and the city on the radar of the business community.”

She added: “2018 will be a critical year across the North as we submit our bid. We have some more world-class events in the North.

“Liverpool will be celebrating their anniversary of being European Capital of Culture. You’ve got the Great Exhibition of the North coming into Newcastle/Gateshead. We’ll have the impact of Hull being UK City of Culture.”

Ms Young says the tourism industry is of growing importance to Leeds and the North.

She said: “The importance of visitors coming to Leeds is that it really supports the quality of life of the city so it has a knock-on effect of providing really good infrastructure that benefits people who work here.”

ConferenceLeeds is looking to work with leading industry experts, as well as business leaders and stakeholders throughout the city, to attract national and international conferences through its ambassador programme.

The presence of top universities in the region helps the organisation with its ambassador programme, Ms Young said.

“Having those universities and our sector strengths, we are able to drive a really strong ambassador programme for Leeds,” she said, “which is academics within those universities and business leaders within our community working closely with us to bring in some critical national conference wins.”

Despite Brexit, the city and its hospitality sector will continue to work in a collaborative way, says the head of ConerenceLeeds.

Ms Young said: “Leeds has a really strong and passionate ambition to be open for business. It’s a welcoming city.

“We have a strong conferencing city proposition across ourselves, the universities, the Leeds Venues & Hotels Association.

“We’re very much working together to ensure that we grow our business.”

Ms Young added that Leeds Business Improvement District (BID) is a “key stakeholder” in the collaborative approach.

She said: “We’ve worked specifically with them and Leeds Hotels & Venues Association in bringing a series of national hosted buyers into Leeds. They’ve been very supportive of that. We’ve been able to pool our resources to really showcase Leeds.”

Ms Young described 2016 as a “really good year” for the hospitality sector in Leeds, with hotel occupancy rates up.