Welcome to Yorkshire 'was days away from folding' in summer, chief executive reveals

The organisation's latest accounts, which have just been published five months late and reveal a £200,000 loss for the two years before March 2020, have now declared the agency is a going concern.

But this would not have been the case without the injection of funding from local councils after £1m of expected business rates pool money was not delivered due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company’s income was also hit by its decision to suspend membership fees at the start of the coronavirus crisis for local tourism businesses.

Mr Mason said: “Last summer we were a week or so from running out of cash. Until funding was secured, we couldn’t have demonstrated the business was a going concern.

“However with this support we believe we can be sustainable as long as the tourism industry is able to operate fully at the successful levels it was before Covid-19.”

He added: “Had we not received the money from local authorities, it was almost a certainty that we would have had to wrap Welcome to Yorkshire up.

“There were very, very long days and very difficult conversations.”

The financial crisis was the second time in under two years in which Welcome to Yorkshire has almost run out of money.

In September 2019, it took a £500,000 loan from North Yorkshire County Council to prevent it running out of cash and being unable to pay staff - a debt which is still yet to be repaid.

Those issues related to the extensive fallout surrounding the departure of former chief executive Sir Gary Verity in March 2019 amidst allegations about inappropriate expenses spending and the treatment of staff - a situation which led to costly independent inquiries being ordered and funding being pulled from some quarters.

Under Mr Mason, the agency has cut its staffing numbers by half as part of efforts to rebalance its finances and he said the problems of last summer could be attributed to Covid-19.

Two sets of accounts have been published, covering a combined period of two years. The first set shows that in the 18 months between March 2018 and September 2019, the company reported a deficit of £71,857 - a loss chiefly attributable to more than £430,000 of costs relating to the fallout surrounding Sir Gary’s departure.

In the six months to the end of March 2020, a further £127,140 deficit was reported - a result attributed in part to costs connected with making redundancies and recruiting a new chief executive in Mr Mason.

The report added: “The directors anticipate a return to the successful delivery of services and a return to surplus in the year to March 2021.”

Mr Mason said he hoped the publication of the accounts would be seen as a “line in the sand” in showing Welcome to Yorkshire has changed.

“A lot of people supported Welcome to Yorkshire in our hour of need and it is our responsibility now to repay that faith,” he said.

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