How York will bounce back from Covid by thinking big – Sarah Loftus

Then, two years ago this weekend, Britain’s first case of Covid was discovered in York, bringing about one of the most challenging times for the tourism and hospitality industry.

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After a turbulent two years, York is bouncing back, with many positives to take away including a record-breaking Christmas for the city.

In December 2021, York’s footfall in the city centre was just five per cent down from 2019, compared to the national average of –22 per cent.

We had record numbers of traffic on the Visit York in December and many businesses in the city experienced a more successful December compared to 2019.

As a city, we should be proud of what we’ve achieved. Through Visit York’s activity alone we have had 20 million impressions on our social media channels in the past two years, 800,000 engagements and gained over 14,000 new followers.

Looking at our Visit York membership, we’ve run 45 online member events over the last two years, including training events focusing on social media, customer service and Google listings, as well as a wide variety of taster and charity events.

We’ve also grown our membership during this time, attracting 116 new members and achieving our best ever retention rate at 94 per cent, with more than 850 members altogether.

But what next? As we continue to look ahead to tourism in a post-pandemic world, I have the job of leading York’s tourism strategy for the next three years.

Although there are many positives to take away, there are also areas of our tourism sector that haven’t yet returned – including international tourism.

At this year’s virtual Visit York Tourism Conference in January, we heard from Rebecca Hill, from Galtres Lodge hotel and restaurant, about how the majority of businesses in York haven’t been hugely impacted by the loss of international travel.

Those markets that were lost were quickly replaced with staycationers and residents who were rediscovering their city. So, it begs the question, do we really need international tourists to survive? And how much do we as a Destination Management Organisation need to focus on international tourism in the future?

There were a lot of big topics that came out of this year’s Visit York Tourism Conference that need to be addressed; including the rise of stag and hen parties in York, and how York becomes a green city and leads the way in sustainability.

I have a big task on my hands, but my vision is for Visit York to be the best Destination Management Organisation in the UK – after all, York was voted the best city in the UK.

But how do we achieve this challenge for the future?

How will the hospitality and tourism sector rebuild and become stronger as a result of the pandemic?

How do we attract the right tourism for York?

What do we need to put in place to help the sector grow, revive and become more resilient for whatever hits us in the future?

At Make It York and Visit York, we must think big, be ambitious and build on the strength York has achieved. We have the ability to build something very special.

My aim is to build York back up to those pre-Covid 8.4 million visitors, but I don’t necessarily believe that we need to exceed it. Our strategy is to attract visitors who love and respect York the way residents do, encouraging them to stay longer, spend more and have a positive impact on York’s economy.

We also need to ensure that we continue to nurture our relationship with residents. What we saw during lockdown was local people rediscovering their city and supporting our businesses. This is something that was prominent in the ‘Y Tourism?’ report that we commissioned.

Speaking to partners across the city, they highlighted a need for urban development and maintaining a strong connection with the locals who have rediscovered York city centre during Covid.

We are lucky that York has so much offer – heritage, culture, a university city and independent businesses – but we must not let complacency prevent us from exploring our full potential as a creative, inclusive and innovative place to visit.

As I enter my second month 
at Make It York and Visit York, I’m finalising our strategy for 2022 which will be published in April.

In that report, I will be outlining how Make It York are going to deliver for residents and visitors, with key objectives to easily measure our progress.

In the meantime, Yorkshire can help us shape the future of tourism in York and what that looks like.

We have a Tourism Strategy Questionnaire on our website, which can be found at www.visityork.org/vycon.

We hope that 2022 will be a much more positive year, as we continue to build back from the pandemic.

We will continue to support our members, host free events for residents and visitors, implement York’s Creative Future and celebrate Shambles Market. And we look forward to also welcoming you back to York.

Sarah Loftus is managing director 
of Make It York.

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