YORK's reputation as a great place for shopping will be firmly under the spotlight when Royal Ascot comes to town, the city's tourism chiefs said today.

Looking forward to 2005, officials at York Tourism Bureau (YTB) said the five-day festival of horse racing and pageantry would make next year a real "piece of history".

The bureau was commenting following a successful 2004 which saw York knock London off its plinth as Britain's favourite city, record the best hotel occupancy rates for five years and take over the hugely-successful York Pass franchise.

Gillian Cruddas, chief executive of YTB, said the organisation was looking to use next year's Royal Ascot to market the city to new visitors.

She said it was tremendous news for York regulars that the special race meeting would be travelling northwards in June.

"The Royal Procession on Knavesmire will be a real piece of history and it's a coup for tourism in York too as we'll be able to market the city to new visitors who hopefully will be encouraged to sample the delights of Britain's favourite city," she said.

New in 2005 will be York's launch as a City of Festivals with new events including the Ghost Festival and Festival of Rivers joining the firmly established Food And Drink and Viking Festival.

The year will also see the first e-brochure compiled and distributed by the bureau. Bureau bosses said they also wanted to strengthen links with passenger carriers like GNER and P&O Ferries.

A tourism bureau spokeswoman said: "It is crucial to develop new products and offer value for money to all of our visitors, domestic and overseas, and with the strong messages of Royal Ascot at York and Festival City 2005, together with strong new product including e-brochures offering ease and accessibility to what York has to offer, the year ahead looks bright for Britain's favourite city.

"Funding is crucial in maintaining and building on the successes experienced in 2004 and Yorkshire Forward is currently prioritizing and investing money in tourism for the region.

"York Tourism Bureau looks forward to mirroring the successes achieved in 2004, with continued growth in tourism resources and investment in tourism by Yorkshire Forward."

Updated: 10:26 Wednesday, December 29, 2004