Tourists courted by Facebook and Twitter... plus leaflets

The campaign, launched yesterday by Visit York and called My York, will encourage tourists to post advice and highlights of their trips to the city using Facebook and Twitter to help attract more visitors from across the world.

With an increasing number of tourists now shunning traditional sources of visitor information in favour of the internet, Visit York says it decided to launch the new campaign as a way of best promoting the city and keeping up with the pace of change.

But marketing manager Liz Moon, who helped spearhead the campaign, said new brochures and leaflets, often vital to elderly visitors without access to the internet, were also being produced in conjunction with the new push online. “Social networking is a fantastic opportunity for us”, she said.

“It is great to have this traditional channel which wasn’t there at all 10 years ago.

“We have used social networking before, but this is the first time we have had a targeted campaign through social networking channels to what we want to achieve.

“We want people to say why they love York and why they came, throughout the year, and to tell other people.

“York is a gateway to Yorkshire and we are trying to promote the whole county through this, as well as the city itself.

“Anything we can do to raise the profile of York as a tourist destination will benefit the city as well.”

The tourist industry has become the bedrock of York’s economy, which has moved away from the traditional manufacturing sector with the decline of the city’s chocolate factories and the railway carriage works.

York attracts 7.1 million visitors each year, who spend an estimated £443m, and the tourism sector in the city is responsible for about 23,000 jobs.

The My York campaign will run throughout 2011, promoting visitor attractions, shopping, festivals and special offers at restaurants and hotels.

To join online, visit www. facebook.com/visityork or twitter.com/visityork