Record-Breaking December for Visit York Social Media Drives Winter Demand into 2026

Visit York has delivered a record-breaking December across social media, achieving its highest-ever organic reach while successfully using festive-period attention to drive demand for early 2026 travel.

Led and delivered by Visit York’s destination marketing activity, December 2025 generated more than 3.19 million impressions across Visit York’s social channels, including an all-time record high for organic impressions. Performance was underpinned by a strategic focus on event-led content that not only celebrated York in December but actively encouraged planning for the quieter winter months ahead.

A key driver of this success was strong audience interest in York Ice Trail, returning in February 2026. Multiple Ice Trail announcement posts ranked among the top-performing content of the month, with individual Facebook posts generating over 500,000 impressions, more than 6,000 engagements and thousands of outbound clicks to the Visit York website. This early promotion clearly resonated with audiences, demonstrating appetite for winter events and helping position York as a compelling destination beyond the Christmas period.

Video content also played a significant role. Across December, Visit York recorded more than 477,000 video views, exceeding target by 326%. Short-form videos promoting upcoming events, atmospheric winter scenes and festive city moments consistently achieved high reach and engagement, reinforcing the value of visually immersive storytelling in driving organic discovery.

Alongside Ice Trail content, strong performance was also seen across festive destination posts, cultural highlights and Visit York’s Advent giveaway series, which supported engagement and sustained audience interest throughout the month. Overall, nearly 78,000 engagements were recorded, with an average engagement rate of 2.4% per impression.

For Visit York Members, this performance highlights the tangible value of promoting January and February activity while audiences are already engaged and planning ahead. By using December’s peak attention to spotlight winter events and experiences, Visit York is helping extend the visitor season, drive earlier bookings and support the city’s visitor economy during traditionally quieter months.