Council gives troubled Welcome to Yorkshire extra year to repay £500,000 loan

The council, whose leader Carl Les sits on the Welcome to Yorkshire board, had given the company the loan last September after financial difficulties meant the agency would have run out of cash and been unable to pay staff.

Welcome to Yorkshire initially had until November to repay the money in full but new chief executive James Mason said in January that he hoped to extend the terms and talks had been arranged with the council prior to the pandemic disrupting ordinary life.

Leading councillors have now agreed to extend the repayment time until the end of November 2021.

Welcome to Yorkshire, which has been a private firm since 2009 but receives millions of pounds each year from local councils, has been struggling to recover from the fallout to the resignation of long-time chief executive Sir Gary Verity in March 2019 amidst bullying and expenses spending allegations.

It has furloughed around one-third of its staff since the pandemic lockdown and is applying for an emergency Government fund to help tourism bodies through support towards staff wages and covering operational costs during the coronavirus crisis.

Councillor Gareth Dadd, the North Yorkshire’ councils deputy leader and finance boss, said it would be unthinkable for the region not to have such an organisation in place to promote its tourism industry post-lockdown.

He said executive members had agreed the tourism body needed time to develop its recovery plan, while the council needed to focus its attention on responding to coronavirus.

He added with tourism being among the largest sectors of Yorkshire’s economy it would be vital to take advantage of any potential rise in the number of British people wanting to have a holiday without going abroad.

Research commissioned by Welcome to Yorkshire last year concluded tourism is worth £9bn a year to the region and supports 224,000 workers. Mr Mason has warned the local economy could lose billions this year as a result of coronavirus.

"We will need a tourism organisation to advocate for Yorkshire more than ever when the lockdown restrictions are eased to enable people to travel. The staycation market will probably be stronger than ever.”

When pressed over concerns that Welcome to Yorkshire could default on the loan, Coun Dadd said the funds had been secured on the tourism body’s former headquarters in York, which had been valued at between £710,000 and £875,000.

Welcome to Yorkshire chairman Peter Box said the agency was “incredibly grateful” to the council.

He said: “This allows the organisation some much needed breathing space as we live through unprecedented times not just for the tourism industry but the nation as a whole.

“The work Welcome to Yorkshire is doing right now is vital to help businesses survive the COVID-19 crisis and also to make sure we’re in the best possible position to start recovering when we are out the other side.

“When the lockdown ends we’ll need Welcome to Yorkshire more than ever, to promote our great county.

"Until we can once again start attracting visitors from across the globe, we’ll need a focus on encouraging staycations and day trips to see all the amazing things we have right on our doorstep and once again enjoy the experiences we’ve perhaps all taken for granted.”

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