No long-term tourism boost for region from staging Tour de France, says Screen Yorkshire boss

The region famously hosted the Grand Depart stage of the race in 2014, with tens of thousands of spectators cheering on the riders as they made their way through the county after then-Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive Gary Verity secured the event.

It led to the formation of the Tour de Yorkshire cycling race the following year but that has not taken place since 2019.

Ms Cooper Charles was asked about the impact of the Tour de France event as she gave evidence to MPs on the Department of Culture, Media and Sport Committee about efforts to promote Britain as an international holiday destination.

MP Clive Efford asked: “Can I ask about sports tourism because I remember when Gary Verity won the Tour de France from under the noses of the Government which was promoting a different option.

“Did that have a lasting impact for Yorkshire because it is such a massive sporting event?”

She replied: “In all honesty, I don’t think it did.

“It certainly was a spotlight for Yorkshire and people came to see the race.

“For a short amount of time, obviously the hotels were booked up and the restaurants were full.

“But in terms of long-term impact – no, I wouldn’t say so.

“Once the bikes are gone, what’s left?”

She said she did not feel there had been a concerted effort to “sell the rest of Yorkshire” around the race.

“I don’t think that really happened. If it had done, maybe there would have been a longer-lasting impact.”

Ms Cooper Charles said that Screen Yorkshire had been working with tourism attractions in Yorkshire to highlight television shows and films that had been shot at their locations following the recent success of shows like Bridgerton and All Creatures Great and Small.

“They are all within the same region so you might have for instance a family tour which might focus on something like The Secret Garden or The Railway Children Return.

“It is trying to work alongside our tourism economy because the tricky thing for us is tourism is not our role.

“We have a lot of expertise which means we can bring people who were involved in the production to add to a quality experience. We have been talking to Castle Howard about maybe doing audio tours based around particular productions filmed there but it is not our primary role.

“We have to bring that expertise and make sure that we’re working with the other appropriate people to be able to assist in delivering that message.”

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