HISTORIC York will set up stall at a major tourist destination in London - aimed at attracting thousands of tourists to the city.

For five days from tomorrow, York will exhibit at the Britain And London Visitor Centre, at 1 Regent Street.

It will be the first time the city has ever run such an exhibition.

With the help of staff - and a few Vikings - from Jorvik, it is hoped the exhibition will encourage even more tourists to visit York this summer.

London's visitor centre attracts ten thousand visitors every week, with a high percentage of them being affluent Americans, just starting their tour of the UK.

America has already been identified as one of York's most important and lucrative overseas markets - other important markets picked out by the recent York Visitor Survey include tourists from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.

The main group of visitors to York, however, is couples from London and the south east of England.

Kate McMullen, marketing manager at York Tourism Bureau, said: "We're heading to London to meet face-to-face with first time visitors to the UK and introduce York to people who might only previously have considered a stay in London.

"The majority of first time visitors to the UK will head to London first and we want to encourage them to make York their next stop.

"We'll also be using this opportunity to raise York's profile in the capital."

In addition to promoting York's favourites such as York Minster, York Castle Museum, Jorvik and the National Railway Museum, staff will be promoting new attractions such as DIG and also launching the city's festival programme, encouraging visitors to book events such as the Festival of Food & Drink, in September.