Tourism Boost in North Yorkshire
Story Published: 5 November 2010
Ambitious plans to boost tourism in North Yorkshire have been unveiled by the official tourism agency Welcome to Yorkshire.
Two new Area Directors have been appointed to raise the national and international profile of the stunning North Yorkshire tourism offer and to increase visitor numbers.
David Shields and Janet Deacon will join York Area Director Gillian Cruddas working across the north from Harrogate to the coast.
They will work alongside Peter Myers in the West, David Friesner in the South and Janet Reuben in the East, uniting all four areas under the Welcome to Yorkshire umbrella.
David Shields has worked in tourism across both the private and public sector since 1987.
This includes running tourism facilities for local authorities, working for the Earl of Glasgow at Kelburn Castle as well as organising major events such as Radio One Roadshows.
David said: "This is an exciting time for North Yorkshire and will intensify business links to the rest of the county. We can then work even closer together to bring visitors in from other areas and drive tourism even higher."
Janet Deacon has worked in tourism for the past 23 years, managing visitor services for Scarborough Borough Council as well as launching tourism campaigns jointly with the private sector.
Janet has also been responsible for managing council-owned entertainment venues as well as supporting major events and initiatives such as the launch of the new Welcome to Yorkshire Open Air Theatre in Scarborough.
Janet said: "We are really looking forward to working closely with tourism businesses in each area to ensure that the promotion of each destination is maximised."
The Yorkshire Tourist Board was rebranded and re-launched as Welcome to Yorkshire in 2009.
Since then the organisation has increased the value of tourism by nearly £400 million (from 2008 to 2009).
Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire said: "These figures show how vital the tourism industry is to the economy and what terrific strides we have already made.
"However it is imperative that we look at how we can be more effective with the money we spend and how we can be more streamlined in the way we operate.
"These appointments complete our line up of six Area Directors covering the great county and they will all work together on the single goal of planting Yorkshire firmly on the global map."
Welcome to Yorkshire has recently launched a number of campaigns for North Yorkshire including the highly-praised Turner Trails covering 70 sites featuring Turner's famous paintings of Yorkshire.
The Yorkshire Gardens campaign was also launched at the Chelsea Flower Show in May and which invites visitors to sample 59 gardens across the county.
North Yorkshire and the Yorkshire Coast have featured heavily in much of the Welcome to Yorkshire high-profile marketing campaign.
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Editors' Notes:
- Welcome to Yorkshire is the official tourism agency for Yorkshire, working to grow the county's visitor economy.
- Welcome to Yorkshire is funded by Yorkshire Forward, the Regional Development Agency charged with improving the Yorkshire and Humber economy.
- Key facts include:
- Tourism in Yorkshire is worth £6.5 billion annually
- The county's industry employs almost a quarter of a million people
- There are 209 million visits to Yorkshire each year
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