STAYCATIONS: Yorkshire tourism in a post-Covid world

Juliana Delaney, CEO of York-based Continuum Attractions

I have spent more than 30 years working in Yorkshire’s vibrant tourism industry. It was in my first role at York’s Jorvik Viking Centre in 1981 where I recognised my passion for storytelling.

For me, real stories about real people will always be the most authentic way to learn about the wonderful places we live in or travel to.

From familiar tales of York’s first chocolatiers to how production and filming works behind the scenes of Yorkshire’s much-loved soap opera, we know visitors love to step into alternative worlds.

Fun at York's Chocolate Story

Sadly, our shared love for storytelling really suffered during lockdown. Without seeing the whites of someone’s eyes and talking in person, it’s so difficult to bring stories to life in the same way.

We tried to recreate the feeling with virtual and online experiences for our visitors last year, but now our doors are finally back open; I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to see delighted faces engaging with our tour guides and the stories they share. Long may that be able to continue.

We’re not totally out of the woods yet, but even so, I think some changes are here to stay for tourism in a post-Covid world. We’re hearing from our visitors that they still prefer their own space to move around our attractions comfortably and confidently, so we’re responding by pre-booking tour slots wherever possible and keeping admissions at a manageable level. It’ll be an important balance for the industry to manage what we hope to be a great bounce-back year for UK tourism, while keeping space, safety and quality at its absolute best.

As someone who has enjoyed many staycations over the years, I’m also hopeful the new trend of holidaying in the UK continues. It’s great to see people looking for unique experiences too - just look online at some of the weird and wonderful listings selling out this year, from windmills to house boats and treehouses.

We’re actually in the process of applying for planning permission to build sustainable and eco-friendly accommodation at our outdoor GreenWood attraction in Wales, which we hope will give families a great staycation with a difference.

Overall, I’m feeling optimistic about tourism’s future. As an industry, we had to adapt quickly and press pause on parts of our job we love the most, but we also had the benefit of time to take stock and refresh our offer during long periods of closure. It hasn’t been easy, but with sell-out days across our attractions in the first weeks of reopening, we can be confident that people have missed us just as much!

Continuum Attractions, in York, operates eight visitor experiences across the UK including York's Chocolate Story and Emmerdale Studio Experience and Emmerdale The Village Tour, both in Leeds. It has recently signed a ten-year partnership deal with ITV to operate their visitor experiences, including the new I’m a Celebrity attraction in Manchester.

continuumattractions.com

James Mason, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire

There are always plenty of exciting options to explore and enjoy in Yorkshire, at whatever time of the year. That is thanks to our exciting and diverse mix of cities and towns, breathtaking countryside and coastline, as well as our arts and culture offerings, our history and heritage, and fabulous places to eat and drink.

With overseas travel looking uncertain for the foreseeable future and lockdown restrictions easing, the months ahead are crucial for Yorkshire tourism. It has been a particularly turbulent time for a sector which, pre-pandemic, was worth a staggering £9bn to the local economy and employed almost 225,000 people.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Recent weeks have seen a real increase in interest for people visiting and holidaying in Yorkshire - and for domestic holidays at large. Many hospitality venues are booked up throughout the summer and beyond. It’s incredibly important that visitors and holidaymakers stay safe at all times to ensure an enjoyable stay and a much-needed boost for all businesses across an array of desirable destinations.

As a region, we can proudly say we have one of the highest numbers of businesses registered to the UK’s nationwide safety scheme We’re Good to Go. We commend the resilience and agility of our Yorkshire tourism organisations, adapting their operations and investing in new inventory and training to ensure the health and safety of not just the guests, but all their team members.

Welcome to Yorkshire is working with the county’s businesses and attractions to encourage positive practice for all to feel safe, including teaming up with the TUC in a poster campaign to promote proper ventilation at hospitality venues and attractions by keeping windows open at tourism locations.

Welcome to Yorkshire’s website yorkshire.com is packed with information for visitors. Also, our Walkshire campaign (at walkshire.com), launched on New Year’s Day, offers a walk for every day of the year.

Encouraging escapism to the seven cities of the region is the focus of our Yorkshire Northern Cities promotion, funded by VisitBritain. Focussing on Bradford, Hull, Leeds, Ripon, Sheffield, Wakefield and York, the digital initiative specifically targets young couples and empty nesters.

Initial figures already show excellent engagement with an online reach of almost a million, plus almost two and a half million impressions, and continuing to rise.

While the future will undoubtedly continue to present challenges across the tourism sector as a result of the international pandemic, there is also optimism as we work together to guide, advise, and promote Yorkshire as being the perfect place to visit, live, work and study.

yorkshire.com