2025 has been another busy year for Visit North Yorkshire, focused on growth, collaboration, and exciting new initiatives to strengthen the county’s visitor economy. From welcoming our new Head of Tourism, Tony Watson, to the establishment of two important and influential groups, the Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) Board and the Visit North Yorkshire Advisory Group, we’ve laid strong foundations to support North Yorkshire as a sustainable visitor destination.
This year also saw the launch of two new websites, the brand-new Visit North Yorkshire consumer site, a first for the county, and Meet North Yorkshire, our dedicated convention bureau platform showcasing venues for meetings, conferences, and events.
Alongside this, we delivered high-impact marketing campaigns, supported events that drove footfall into our towns and places, and forged connections and partnerships to ensure our tourism offer is well-represented and supported.
Here are our Top Five of 2025 highlights:
1. Meeting Firsts
This year marked major milestones with the first LVEP Board meeting in September, and the inaugural Visit North Yorkshire Advisory Group Meeting in November. The formation of these groups strengthens our collective ambition to grow and support the visitor economy. To read more about these groups, their members and objectives go to:
First meeting of York & North Yorkshire LVEP Board
New tourism advisory group meets for first time
2. Two new websites
2025 saw the launch of two new websites. visitnorthyorkshire.com launched in April and the Meet North Yorkshire website went live in July.
The Visit North Yorkshire website is our consumer-facing site and our primary channel for showcasing our amazing county to the world. The website is made up of 1,300+ listings, inspirational content through blogs and itineraries, useful information for visitors and incredible imagery and video to position North Yorkshire as a must-visit destination.
The Meet North Yorkshire website is now the go-to place for event organisers to browse over 100 venues across North Yorkshire perfect for their next meeting, conference, exhibition or event.
To find out how to get your business listed download our 2026 Opportunities Pack.
3. Event support
Throughout the year, we delivered and supported a series of events which boosted footfall into our towns and places.
- The British Gravel Championships: Taking place in Dalby Forest in September, this national event allowed us to promote the county before, during and after the championships offering a prime opportunity to showcase North Yorkshire as a top-tier destination for outdoor adventure.
- Bringing Nao Victoria to Scarborough: This summer, we helped to attract more visitors to Scarborough ahead of the summer holidays with a visit from the stunning replica of the 16th-century Spanish galleon, Nao Victoria.
- Whitby, Selby and Harrogate Restaurant Weeks: The beginning of 2025 saw the first Restaurant Week for Whitby, with the end of the year delivering Selby, Tadcaster, Sherburn-in-Elmet and Harrogate. Restaurant Weeks allow restaurants, cafes and tea rooms to offer set price menus to encourage new customers at a typically quieter time of the year. To find out how you can get involved in the first Helmsley & Howardian Hills Restaurant Week in 2026 or sign up to Whitby Restaurant Week, click here.
- Seasonal events: We supported a range of seasonal events including a pop-up Pumpkin Patch in Ripon, a Santa-Sleigh sing-along at Northallerton Christmas Food Market, Pateley Bridge’s lantern parade and the Harrogate Christmas Fayre.
4. Successful, high-impact marketing campaigns
Our programme of hero destination marketing campaigns, There’s More to North Yorkshire, Find Your Escape, Christmas, and Come On In delivered:
- 12M+ reach via out-of-home advertising
- 9.4M social views
- 13.4k new followers
- 26 media & influencer trips
To find out how to get involved in our 2026 marketing campaigns, click here.
5. Partnerships forged.
This year saw 32 new partners joining us, we reached 1,326 business listings on website, we held eight partner drop–in sessions across the county and worked on a successful promotional partnership with Transdev.
Thank you to everyone who worked with us in 2025. To find out what’s in store for 2026, follow us on LinkedIn and sign up to our tourism industry newsletter.
