GROUP tourism is booming in York, new figures show today. And it is partly thanks to the Americans.

Research conducted for the first time by VisitYork reveals that last year alone group tourism yielded more than £25 million worth of direct value to York’s economy – on accommodation, visiting attractions, shopping and dining out.

Almost 10,000 group visits were made to York during 2010 and almost 1,000 of these were from the US. The average size of each group visit was about 30, and 62 per cent of group visitors stayed either one or two nights in the city.

A further third stayed three or four nights.

The findings – the result of research with 200 group organisers into York and 21 tourism businesses across the city – suggest that York is an extremely popular destination for group bookings from overseas tourists, with ten per cent coming from the US last year, 11 per cent from Europe and eight per cent from other overseas countries.

Group visits from within the UK represented 45 per cent of the total and 21 per cent came from other parts of Yorkshire, highlighting the city’s popularity for UK coach breaks.

The new figures came as York was named as a finalist in the annual Group Travel Awards for 2011 in the Most Group-Friendly UK Destination category, and in the Coach Tourism Awards 2011 in the Coach-Friendly Town or City of the Year category.

The research results also came in the wake of an announcement that more than 200 key tour operators and group travel organisers would converge on York in January for the Group Travel Organisers Association annual conference.

The three-day conference, at the Ouse-side Park Inn Hotel from January 20, will represent “a perfect opportunity to showcase the city and all it has to offer,” said Laura Freer, business tourism marketing manager for York & Scarborough Conferences.

Plans are now under way to ensure the delegates will be offered tours to the likes of the York Minster, the Mansion House, the National Railway Museum, Jorvik, the Quilt Museum, the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, Castle Howard and Eden Camp.

On the new research figures, Gillian Cruddas, chief executive of Visit York, said: “These results are fantastic news for York’s tourism sector and demonstrate that our campaign to market York as a group friendly city is paying dividends.

“Last year York was crowned City of the Year in the annual Coach Tourism Awards and we will continually strive to excel in the service and friendly welcome we offer to group travel organisers to ensure that York holds on to this top spot.”