ABOUT £50 million is set to pour into York and North Yorkshire's coffers as Royal Ascot gets under way.

Tourism bosses and economics experts believe there could be even more in the city kitty if racecourse crowds are as big as is hoped.

As the spotlight fell on York today as the most anticipated event in the city's recent history kicked off, an update report by council chiefs revealed the prospect of a goldmine.

Ian Tempest, at City of York Council's economic development unit, said if racegoers matched the £75 average spent by the city's four million tourists a year then a 250,000 crowd would bring in £18.75m into York and North Yorkshire.

A higher proportion of people staying in the county's hotels and guest houses would see that figure rise to more than £20 million - with extra millions expected to be spent by the 6,000 staff working on Knavesmire this week.

Businesses directly benefiting from the racing revenue would be hotels and guest houses, restaurants, shops, transport companies and race firms.

Experts expect another £25 million could be the windfall if Royal Ascot goes off without a hitch - as impressed tourists return to the city.

Gillian Cruddas, chief executive of York Tourism Bureau, believes far more than £50 million could be the result of a successful five days racing. She said the figures were "conservative".

Mr Tempest wrote: "We could be talking of £25m spend immediately, with the potential for a similar level of further spend should these visitors come back to York and North Yorkshire again."

Regional development agency Yorkshire Forward estimated the cash generated by the race meeting could even be as much as £60million.

Tourism chiefs will be targeting Ascot visitors once the festival is over, in an effort to tempt them back to the city for a short break.

Mrs Cruddas said: "I feel the figures are very conservative. I have been round businesses in East Riding of Yorkshire and they are booming on Ascot trade. It will not just benefit York, it is much wider reaching than that. "We have never had an event like this in York before so it is difficult to predict what the scale of the economic impact would be.

"In the long-term we are hoping it will give a boost to York's status as a short-break destination. What will make the event a success is the welcome York people give to tourists. It is also good for York to be seen as a city that can host big prestigious events. Success breeds success."

Bill Woolley, the council's acting director of environment and development services, said the authority would not be "taking anything for granted".

"This has got to be good for the economy of the city," he said. "Clearly it will have a long-term benefit. People will be watching on TV in all the countries of the world and there is bound to be more people coming.

"But we are not taking anything for granted and we will want to maximise the advantages to get people to come back to York."

Updated: 11:05 Tuesday, June 14, 2005