Decision on potential new tourism agency for Yorkshire won't be made until autumn

Carl Les, co-chair of the Yorkshire Leaders' Board and leader of North Yorkshire County Council, said a decision on whether a new destination management organisation for the region will be established is unlikely to be finalised until October.

It follows the leaders’ board recently meeting with Robin Scott, the new owner of Welcome to Yorkshire which was placed into administration in March after council leaders decided to stop funding it.

Mr Scott’s marketing efforts for the region will be largely focused around the Yorkshire.com website - meaning Welcome to Yorkshire will no longer be a tourism agency in the traditional sense.

Coun Les, who was previously a board member for the original version of Welcome to Yorkshire, said council leaders had participated in a positive discussion with Mr Scott about his plans, which also include potentially reviving the Tour de Yorkshire cycling race.

He said that council leaders still wanted to investigate the potential for establishing a new tourism body for the region - an idea that was originally put forward after Welcome to Yorkshire was placed into administration earlier this year.

“After he left, leaders continued to discuss and we said we felt there was still a need for us to pursue the line of inquiry that we had set up,” said Coun Les.

“Robin Scott owns Welcome to Yorkshire and he can start to do his marketing tomorrow.

“What we need is a bit more time to think about how councils can do the destination management and then fitting in to the marketing as well.

“There is further work to be done and leaders agreed, I think unanimously, that we should still carry on with having discussions with other bodies who can help in that.”

Coun Les said it was yet to be decided by council leaders whether a new destination management organisation will be set up to work alongside or parallel to the new iteration of Welcome to Yorkshire.

“The decision is to continue with that line of inquiry. Do we want a DMO that is actually management rather than marketing because Welcome to Yorkshire is clearly going to be marketing and if there is a desire to have a DMO, then what is the councils’ role in all of that?”

He said a decision is unlikely to be reached in time for the next leaders’ board meeting in July, meaning it is more likely to be made for its one after that in October.

A spokesperson for the Yorkshire Leaders’ Board said: “Local authority officers are currently liaising with key business and sector forums in the four sub-regions across Yorkshire, to test the feedback from previous engagement undertaken with both private and public organisations and understand ambitions for a sustainable region wide destination marketing organisation.

“This includes positive initial dialogue with the new owners of Welcome to Yorkshire’s previous assets, Silicon Dales, to understand their aspirations and intentions.

“It is important that this is done right, and so these vital conversations across a range of stakeholders and service providers will take place throughout the early summer to help shape the remit and form of a new regional organisation.”

Ex-Welcome to Yorkshire communications boss joins PR firm

The former head of communications at Welcome to Yorkshire has joined Leeds-based PR agency Wolfstar.

Carolyn Nicoll has been appointed as Wolfstar’s communications director.

She said: “I’m really looking forward to working with the wonderful Wolfstar team, promoting brilliant businesses. It’s been a tricky couple of years for many organisations and now is an ideal time to be creating exciting PR, communications and media opportunities to maximise brand awareness on a regional, national and international stage.”

The agency’s chairman Tim Sinclair said: “Carolyn’s previous role at Welcome to Yorkshire speaks for itself and I believe that she will add an exciting dimension to the Wolfstar offering.

“Her experience in PR, media, comms, tourism, and TV production is remarkable.”

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