Y 11 Takes Centre Stage
Published: 31 January 2011
Yorkshire businesses are being invited to the biggest tourism conference in the UK after Welcome to Yorkshire announced its major Y 11 event will return this April.
And Opera North is helping to put the agency and its tourism work centre stage by hosting the event at The Grand Theatre & Opera House in Leeds on April 11.
More than 1,000 people from all aspects of the tourism industry and the wider business community are due to attend Y 11 and businesses from across the county who are Welcome to Yorkshire members can get tickets absolutely free. Non-members can also attend for £50 + vat.
Welcome to Yorkshire's chief executive, Gary Verity said: "We are very grateful to Opera North for enabling us to host Y 11 at The Grand Theatre, the home of Opera North. It is a wonderful setting for the event.
"Y 11 is our annual big reveal where we highlight our achievements to date and our ambitious campaigns and initiatives for the new season. I hope everyone who is involved in the county's tourism industry will be there. Now more than ever the industry needs to really come together as one to ensure we maintain and exceed Yorkshire's position as a top UK destination."
Richard Mantle, general director of Opera North, said: "Hosting Welcome to Yorkshire's annual conference as we open our spring season with much loved operas Carmen and Fidelio, is a wonderful opportunity to share our performance space. Opera North is one of the UK's leading arts organisations and adds great cultural depth to the region of Yorkshire, so we are delighted to welcome key members of the tourism sector to our inspirational home."
Cllr Adam Ogilvie, chair of The Grand Theatre & Opera House, added: "I am delighted that Welcome to Yorkshire is holding Y 11 at The Grand Theatre & Opera House. We have staged hit shows from the Sound of Music to Evita and having a conference here is something slightly different. We are delighted to welcome more than a thousand people from the tourism industry to see what we believe is one of the finest theatres in the region."
Since the launch of Welcome to Yorkshire the regional visitor economy has increased from £5.9bn to almost £7bn and visitor numbers have increased to 216 million. The agency's primary aim now is to work with the industry to build on this success and grow visitor numbers to Yorkshire even further.
For further information on Y 11 see www.yorkshire.com/Y11
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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 £7 billion annually
• The county's industry employs almost a quarter of a million people
• There are 216 million visits to Yorkshire each year
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For further information contact:
Beverley Richmond - Press Officer
Email: brichmond@yorkshire.com
Direct Line: 0113 322 3507
Mobile: 07769 257380
Graham Poucher - Press Officer
Email: gpoucher@yorkshire.com
Direct Line: 0113 322 3578
Mobile: 07805 958728