A NEW tourism strategy is being launched today to make York the number one destination of choice for Chinese visitors.

The city's tourist agency Visit York is pushing the scheme today as it hosts its annual conference Tourism Insights.

Welcoming an expected 250 delegates to York Racecourse, Visit York will be outlining how it is hoping to attract Chinese visitors as they plan their travel itineraries for 2015 and beyond.

The conference will feature a line-up of tourism speakers, welcomed by Visit York chairman Jane Lady Gibson, with the agenda set to feature the latest news on tourism trends, emerging markets, the changing demographics of the UK tourism market and how York and Yorkshire businesses can begin to get "China Ready".

Special guest and keynote speaker is Professor Dr Wolfgang Arlt, a world expert on inbound tourism from China, who will talk about how businesses can begin to adapt and get ready to tap into the fast growing tourism market.

At the event, Kate McMullen, head of Visit York, will outline the achievements of Visit York this year and reveal new marketing plans for 2015 and beyond.

She said: "It’s timely for the theme of our tourism conference to focus on emerging markets and in particular to have an emphasis on China.

"This market is the fastest growing and it's crucial we plan ahead now and do all we can to get ready to welcome Chinese visitors to York and Yorkshire in the future."

Visit York marketing manager Michelle Brown will arrive at the conference, fresh from a tourism trade mission to sell York face to face to more than 90 Chinese tour operators as part of VisitBritain’s Destination Britain China event, held in November in Guangzhou, South China.

Ms Brown said: "We see the importance of sowing the seeds for the inbound Chinese market and, now that visa issues are starting to be tackled, we want to ensure York is high on the agenda for tour operators planning their 2015/16 programmes."