2024 was certainly a busy year for Visit North Yorkshire. Over the last 12-months we have achieved some great things, delivered successful projects and campaigns and hit significant milestones in the development of the new destination management and marketing organisation. From the approval of the new 10-year Destination Management Plan (DMP), to our official launch to lots of activity to raise the profile of our magnificent county. Here are just 24 things we have achieved in 2024:
1. Published the first North Yorkshire Visitor Guide. In January 2024, we published the first North Yorkshire wide Visitor Guide and 80,000 copies were distributed in key target areas. The 2025 Guide is out in January 2025.
2. Launched the temporary Visit North Yorkshire website. At the beginning of the year, we created an interim website visitnorthyorkshire.com to act as a landing platform for our existing destination websites whilst also creating an online presence to direct our new county-wide campaign traffic to.
3. Transitioned our presence on social media to Visit North Yorkshire merging our most popular existing social media channels allowed us to communicate to an already engaged audience about the entire county. You can follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook if you don’t already.
4. Attended two of The Holiday & Travel Shows in Manchester and London to promote Whitby and the wider North Yorkshire area.
5. Launched our first county-wide Destination Marketing campaign. The Find your Escape campaign, launched in spring and focused on the county’s gardens and beautiful outdoor spaces. The campaign had 2,244,290 impressions through social media activity, a reach of 3,990,868 via an outdoor advertising campaign and saw 10,000 printed guides distributed. View the campaign evaluation.
6. Attended ITB Berlin, the leading show for the global travel and tourism industry, alongside the Yorkshire Tourism Initiative.
7. Delivered and supported a range of place-based events including; Harrogate and Selby, Tadcaster and Sherburn-in-Elmet Restaurant Weeks, Selby Residents’ Festival and Whitby Fish & Ships Festival. In 2024, we supported the delivery and marketing of two Restaurant Weeks in Harrogate, the first Restaurant Week in the Selby area and the Selby Residents’ Festival which encourages locals to explore and be proud of the tourism offer on their doorstep. We also led on the marketing of Whitby Fish & Ships Festival, an event which aims to attract visitors to the coastal town outside of the peak season.
8. Promoted family-friendly days out and short breaks in the area as part of our ‘always on’ family content to coincide with key school holidays.
9. Released the first North Yorkshire wide STEAM report. A significant step in paving the way for a more consistent approach to gathering crucial county-wide data. We gathered data from the industry to establish a baseline for Tourism in the area. The report showed that North Yorkshire’s visitor economy is worth £4.06 billion and that we welcomed over 31 million people to the region in 2023.
10. The Events team attended the Corporate and Hospitality Show in Leeds and The Meetings Show in London, engaging with key meetings and event planners to promote North Yorkshire as a meetings and events destination.
11. Created the first North Yorkshire Venue Guide, as part of the work to position North Yorkshire as a first-choice events destination. The guide is available online and was distributed at The Meetings Show in 2024.
12. The Marketing Team attended Media Getaway to build contacts with travel media and content creators.
13. Released our first North Yorkshire video for Yorkshire Day! Watch it here.
14. Completed the first project as a York & North Yorkshire Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP). Summer saw our first project as a York & North Yorkshire LVEP. Made possible by a grant from VisitEngland. Five days of professional photography extended our image library, meaning we could place these high-quality North Yorkshire images on the VisitBritain asset library, accessed by hundreds of travel media and international content creators every year.
15. Attended the Great Yorkshire Show. In July we attended the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate for the second time with a North Yorkshire stand to encourage extended and return visits to the area to engaged show-goers.
16. Attended the Harrogate Flower Show to promote the Find Your Escape campaign
17. Supported the delivery and marketing of the first Long Course Weekend Yorkshire which saw thousands of athletes arrive in Masham to compete in Swimming, Cycling and Running.
18. Launched a digital-led campaign to encourage off-peak visits. The ‘Time to Get Away’ campaign focuses on travelling off-peak and via public transport using collaborations with content creators.
19. Officially launched Visit North Yorkshire An event was held in October at Castle Howard to mark our official launch and outline our plans for the future. Find out more.
20. Finalised the 10-year Destination Management Plan (DMP). Following consultation with over 500 businesses in 2023 and 2024, September saw the completion and approval of a new 10-year plan for North Yorkshire.
21. Held our first Visit North Yorkshire networking drop-in session, kindly hosted by Andrew Jarman of Ingleborough Cave at the Old Sawmill Café in October. Around 20 businesses met with the Visit North Yorkshire Commercial & Partnership team to explore current opportunities and find out how the new tourism service is evolving. A series of networking events across North Yorkshire are already in the diary for early 2025.
22. Delivered the first county-wide Christmas campaign including printing and distributing 10,000 guides, PR and print advertising, a social media campaign and digital advertising.
23. Exhibited at World Travel Market, a leading global travel trade event to raise the profile of North Yorkshire as a destination for international visitors.
24. Started work on the development of a brand-new website for Visit North Yorkshire, powered by a comprehensive eTourism system the new visitnorthyorkshire.com will capture everything this county offers its visitors: incredible landscapes, surprising experiences and your businesses. Keep your eyes open for the launch of the new website in Spring 2025.
If you’d like to be a part of our exciting work to position North Yorkshire as a must-visit destination and get involved in our 2025 activity, you can find out more on our Marketing Opportunities page.
