Visit York Tourism Conference 2026

The Visit York Tourism Conference 2026, organised by Make It York and delivered through Visit York, returned to York St John University on Tuesday 13 January, bringing together tourism businesses, partners and stakeholders to explore the future of York’s visitor economy.

Sponsored by LNER, the conference reinforced the importance of collaboration, insight and proactive destination marketing in maintaining York’s position as a world-class destination. The programme showcased how Visit York continues to deliver impact through marketing, events, partnerships and visitor services.

Recent performance highlights shared at the conference included 9.4 million visitors to York in 2024, a Visit York social media reach of 15.8 million people (+8%), and 3.2 million website views from 1.1 million users. York also remains one of the few major UK cities to retain a Visitor Information Centre, supported by a dedicated team and volunteers.

Visit York’s year-round activity included four bespoke marketing campaigns, each generating an average of 1.6 million impressions, alongside major events such as the York Ice Trail and the York Christmas Market, which welcomed 1.2 million visitors, with 37% staying overnight. Growth at Shambles Market was also highlighted, supported by the development of a new Market Growth Strategy.

York’s growing profile as a screen tourism destination was underlined by a 22% increase in filming applications, alongside international recovery, with 1.3 million overseas visitors generating £0.5 billion for the local economy. Visit York continues to expand its global reach through partnerships and international promotion, including strong engagement across Chinese social media platforms.

Keynote speakers included Tom Riordan CBE, Government Envoy for the Northern Growth Corridor, and VisitBritain’s Senior Insights Manager, who shared insights into emerging travel trends, including sustainability, wellbeing, authenticity and the growing role of technology in trip planning.

A panel discussion with representatives from tourism, culture and business reinforced the importance of collaboration, innovation and actively promoting York as open, welcoming and distinctive. The conference concluded by highlighting the shared responsibility of partners and members in shaping a resilient, inclusive and competitive visitor economy.

A recording of the Visit York Tourism Conference 2026 will be available soon.

Read a longer report.