SHOCK new figures suggest York's shops have lost their pulling power for tourists.

According to the latest survey of visitors, only eight per cent now say shopping is their main reason for coming to York - compared with 38 per cent in 1998/99.

When visitors were asked: "What do you like about York?", only 18 per cent picked out shopping, compared with 60 per cent in 1998/99.

Meanwhile, the visitor-spend on shopping has fallen from £100 million in 1998 to a provisional figure of £95 million in 2002 - although that figure would be better than the £91 million spent in 2001.

A report to City of York Council's Economic Development and Community Safety Scrutiny Board next Wednesday warns that the figures suggest York's shopping offer has been losing its appeal.

"This may be down to a lack of investment or to investment in competing towns/cities or to other factors," said assistant director of economic development, Tony Bennett.

He said action was being taken by York Tourism Bureau to promote York as a shopping destination, with a PR campaign featuring specialist shopping trails launched in June.

But he said issues could also be addressed through the council's scrutiny process, for example, by looking at investment priorities and opportunities and examining ways of harnessing retailers' support for projects and initiatives.

He stressed that the context for any such work would be fundamentally affected by the impending government decision on Land Securities' proposals to extend the Coppergate Centre.

Tourism bureau spokeswoman Kay Hyde said today that the visitor shopping figures were no cause for panic. "They could just be a blip," she said.

She stressed that even if many people were not coming to York primarily to shop, this did not mean they were not spending a great deal of money shopping while they were here.

"We would expect the number one reason for visiting York to be because it's a beautiful, historic city."

Len Cruddas, chief executive of York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, agreed that there should not be an overreaction to the figures.

"The shopping offer in York is strong, and therefore we need to build on that strength. York is unique because there are so many interesting and diverse independent retailers as well as nationals, and we need to concentrate on helping the independents."

Updated: 12:09 Thursday, July 10, 2003