Tourism impact on city's economy grows - report

The number of visitors to York has still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels despite the tourism sector being increasingly important to the city's economy, a report has found.

Make It York, an organisation dedicated to promoting the city as a destination, said tourism contributed £2.01bn to York's economy in 2024 - an increase of 5.04% since 2023.

More than a third (34%) of spending by visitors was in the retail sector, with 27% at food and drink outlets and 25% on accommodation.

Ben Lerigo, data analyst at Make It York, said: "It's no exaggeration to say that York has something for everyone."

At 9.4m, annual visitor numbers to the city were still below pre-pandemic levels, he added, but wasn't able to identify any specific reasons "why the growth isn't happening as quick as possible".

Mr Lerigo added: "We're definitely seeing a trend more towards growth in domestic tourism particularly, but we've also seen an increase in international tourism as well."

According to the report, overseas visitors accounted for nearly a quarter of the economic impact.

It also highlighted a rise in employment in the tourism sector, with 16,788 employees in 2024, an annual increase of 4.8%.

The number of visitors staying overnight in York reached 1.7m in 2024, the report said, adding that it was a "slight" increase on the previous year.

More than half of those used serviced accommodation, such as hotels.

Concerns had recently been raised by residents in York about the impact of short-term rental accommodation on the city's housing market.

Mr Lerigo said it was "really important" to find a balance, and avoid "over-tourism", similar to that being seen in Spain.

Make It York was beginning to examine social impact and social return of tourism, he added.

"Economic return is a lot easier to understand the impact of, but there's other things as well and we want to make sure it's sustainable."

That work included encouraging visitors to use public transport, including park and ride services.

"We want to make sure that we're benefitting as many people as we can, both locals and tourists alike."

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