Harrogate's 'strong' tourism role is to be reflected in North Yorkshire's first-ever county-wide visitor plans - pledge

The reassurance comes from North Yorkshire Council, the new unitary authority launched in April to run all services after the merger of the county’s eight district councils.

North Yorkshire Council’s assistant director for tourism, David Caulfield, said: “Harrogate has been identified as among the strongest brands within North Yorkshire, as a significant contributor to the county’s visitor economy through its high-calibre tourism offer, including first class business and leisure events.

"We can look forward to this being reflected within the new county-wide plan that is due to be completed this summer.”

Mr Caulfield said the new destination management plan currently being formulated would bring together all areas of North Yorkshire to provide a single strategy for the council and key partners to support the strong tourism offer within in the county to flourish further and offer even greater value to the local economy.

But the importance of Harrogate’s role would not be overlooked in the first county-wide strategy for tourism despite the major administrative shake-up, he added.

“All the tourism teams previously within the districts, including Destination Harrogate staff, have been brought together as one North Yorkshire tourism team to support the development of the strategy and ensure the strong local brands are represented,” said Mr Caulfield.

“Given Harrogate’s well-defined tourist offer, we expect the Harrogate area to be an integral part of the overall framework."

North Yorkshire Council’s leader, Coun Carl Les said the new approach would give a boost to the county’s visitor economy.

“We recognise the importance of tourism to the county.

"The opportunities that are now being provided with the new North Yorkshire Council are immense.

"This will be the first time that we will have a countywide plan dedicated to promoting the visitor economy,” he said.

“This will not only support the industry and the tens of thousands of jobs it provides, but it will also help attract new enterprise and more visitors.”

A draft destination management plan is due to be finalised by the end of June, before a bid is then expected to be submitted to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Support in September for North Yorkshire to become a Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP).

The LVEP is set to involve both the private and public sectors and would need to follow a new national process to be eligible for support and potential funding from the Government.

Tourism officers in North Yorkshire are working closely on the project, pooling their knowledge and expertise to ensure the strongest possible proposal for a LVEP is submitted.

A marketing campaign has been launched to promote tourism and is being funded by £50,000 from the Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund, which is providing £2.6 billion nationally to help finance the levelling up agenda to tackle regional inequalities.

The digital campaign runs until July and is focusing on North Yorkshire’s key themes such as heritage, food, drink and retail, market towns, the coast and family activities.

Tourism in North Yorkshire is worth £1.5 billion a year in the spend from domestic visitors.

It accounts for 11 per cent of the county’s overall economy, and 41,200 workers are employed in the sector.