The York Narrative

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York’s tourism and visitor organisations have a leading role in communicating York’s vision to the wider world. It is in your hands to change perceptions of York; building on its recognition as a heritage city yet also showing it to be a forward-thinking, creative, surprising and vibrant place where every person matters, and where all can play their part in progressing a thriving and sustainable future.

Whether you are a major tour operator, a hotel, a travel agent or offer events and experiences, The York Narrative will help you solidify your message to audiences, create visitor experiences and services which deliver and communicate a modern, relevant and engaging story of York and drive growth – and do it in a way which benefits from joined-up thinking and common purpose. By working together, York will stand out from the competition and become clearly associated with the values it stands for, reaching the kinds of tourist visitors who want to make a positive and responsible contribution to the city, and become a part of our community whilst they are here.

“I’m delighted the evidence shows how very important our beautiful built heritage is to the city, and at the same time, how the city has continued to evolve and face challenges with forward thinking spirit.”

York Civic Trust

“York Racecourse has an international reputation as it host races ranked in top ten in the world. The power of sport, broadcast around the globe, to attract visitors from near and far is demonstrated by the thousands of visitors to the Knavesmire and its home city, every year. Working with partners on the narrative has helped us make sure the racecourse story can be told to new audiences.”

York Racecourse

Key Facts

York’s reputation as a heritage tourism city is well established nationally and internationally:

The city welcomes around 8.4m visitors each year annually, who spend £765m making a major contribution to our economy and supporting over 19000 jobs.

Of these 6.7m are day visitors & 1.6m stay overnight in the city.

York was the 16th most popular choice for inbound tourists in the UK in 2017.

The city has won a string of tourism awards including: No1 for a UK staycation (Cosmopolitan 2020) for its historic architecture; the prettiest street in Britain (National Express), the third best walled city in the world (CNN Travel) and best city architecture (Conde Naste) amongst others.

Shopping, markets and festivals rank highly. The National Association of British Market Authorities voted York the Best Large Speciality Market (Christmas market) and it was rated Top city in the UK for most independent fresh retailers in 2019.

15,400 business events were hosted by York venues last year, welcoming 867,000 business visitors who spent £140m.

York’s new tourism strategy suggests that doubling the value of the city’s tourism economy to £1bn is achievable.

Case Study: York’s Tourism Strategy

In 2020, Visit York released a new tourism strategy based on data generated through an engagement programme with visitors. It looks to stay at the forefront of tourism leadership in the UK with its focus on sustainability, quality jobs and resident involvement.

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The Narrative Toolkit

Whether you want to develop a new tourism experience, recruit staff, or bring tourism business to York, the toolkit is designed to help you adopt The York Narrative with a framework for implementation, how-to guidelines for each stage and downloadable resources for you to adapt and use in your organisation.

View the toolkit

Case Study: National Railway Museum

As part of its £55m Vision 2025 masterplan, The National Railway Museum will open a spectacular new gallery to showcase the future of railway innovation and engineering. It will bring the story of York’s contribution to the global rail industry up to date with a focus on the future of rail, featuring award-winning technologies being researched and developed in the city.

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