The floodwaters are long gone – but life in York is still an adventure.
That’s the flavour of a new marketing campaign designed to bring tourists back to the city and help it bounce back after the Christmas deluge.
Going live next Tuesday (February 9), York: The Original City Adventure will be will be the biggest domestic tourism campaign yet for York and North Yorkshire.
Aimed primarily at audiences in London and the South East, and key markets in Scotland and the North, it will use a combination of London Underground posters, national press and digital channels.
Advertising space worth £500,000 has also been made available at Heathrow to promote York and other flood-hit areas.
Error, group does not exist! Check your syntax! (ID: 4)Showcasing the best of York
It is part of the £1 million VisitEngland campaign to encourage British families and couples to spend their half term and Easter holidays in the North.
The campaign will focus on the key reasons to visit York this year, including
- the return of the Flying Scotsman
- the re-opening of York Theatre Royal
- and the Mystery Plays at York Minster in May.
Kate McMullen, Head of Tourism, Make It York, said:
Following the Boxing Day flooding our immediate priority is to boost short term bookings, however, we’re also planning for the whole year ahead and inviting visitors to create their very own adventure here.
It was a good time to persuade British people to book a holiday in our neck of the woods, said Sally Balcombe, boss of VisitEngland.
“This new marketing campaign aims to showcase the best to see and do in York and North Yorkshire, giving local businesses a boost now and for the months ahead.”
Error, group does not exist! Check your syntax! (ID: 6)Reduced train fares
Virgin Trains East Coast is backing the campaign.
Make It York has brokered a partnership with Virgin so that customers will get 30% off advanced bookings for twelve weeks from February 9.
Phillip Peacock, brand partnerships manager for the train company, say more than three in ten visits to York are now made by train.
“There’s no better way to travel to York,” he said.
“This new campaign will help us get the message across loud and clear just how close the city is from the capital, with most journeys taking less than two hours.”
Other marketing activity will see renewed activity on social media and online, and international marketing targeting the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and China; funded by the Northern Tourism Growth Fund.
York design company LazenbyBrown will be working on the campaign.
York is a great place to live and a fantastic place for visitors. The proposed promotional campaigns are a step in the right direction. However all of this will be of little benefit unless several outstanding issues are resolved by the council and/or other responsible authorities. These include but are not limited to the following:
The number vagrants, beggars, homeless,rough sleepers on the streets
The street litter, overflowing waste bins, garbage left in the streets
The number of graffiti marked passageways and shattered windows
Illegally parked vehicles parked in prominent positions in the city
The increasing number of empty shops in the city centre
Let’s see a campaign that includes local council responsibilities otherwise it will end up being an exercise in futility.
And please, please, please can we have something done about that monstrosity in the centre of Parliament Street referred to by some as a fountain .