TOURISTS visiting York spent about £16 million more in 2001 than in 2000, the latest official figures reveal.

They show that more than four million visitors spent £264 million in the city.

That figure includes about £65 million which was spent on accommodation, £10 million more than last year.

A £3 million increase in spending on eating out took that figure to £38 million, and a £3 million rise took the amount spent on visiting attractions to £23 million.

The research, commissioned by the First Stop York tourism partnership, also showed that a 3.7 per cent increase in the number of tourism-related jobs meant there were now 8,870 full-time positions.

But it also showed city centre shopping had dropped by £2 million to £91 million.

And Tony Bennett, City of York Council's assistant director of economic development, said: "Following positive visitor trends in the first three months of the year, the picture for York tourism over the summer has been more mixed, with evidence of a poor performance in April and May followed by better hotel occupancy figures in June and especially July. Evidence from August suggests continued concern among many businesses.

"In terms of national trends, there has been a steady improvement in overseas visitor numbers to the UK for several months now, but the year-on-year results for July 2002 are still five per cent down on July 2001, reflecting events at the end of 2001."

City of York Council's economic development board is set to meet next Monday to discuss how to develop tourism into the future.

They will look at issues including:

- How to market York and the region effectively.

- How best to compete with other leading European destinations.

- How to effectively sell Yorkshire through strong branding.

Gillian Cruddas, chief executive of the York Tourism Bureau, said: "The figures are encouraging. 2001 was a difficult year for tourism due to many factors which were out of our control but, despite this, visitor numbers held strong."

Updated: 11:36 Monday, September 23, 2002