North Yorkshire today began enjoying a multi-million pound boost in the wake of York's historic Ecofin summit.

Hotels and tourist attractions were anticipating a bumper season after TV images of European Finance Ministers in York and at Castle Howard were beamed into tens of million of homes across Europe.

Coverage of the ministers' visit to Castle Howard yesterday was expected to give another boost to visitor numbers this summer, after interest had already been swelled by recent repeats of the TV drama Brideshead Revisited.

Simon Howard said: "It is obviously a great boost for Castle Howard and I would like to think we will get more visitors as a result."

And York council chiefs were using the event to step up their efforts to promote inward investment into the area and increase the city's importance as a conference venue.

Paul Murphy, chief executive of York's Inward Investment Board, hoped the drip-feed of positive images in newspapers and on TV would convey an important message: "York is not just a pretty place but a credible international destination."

City of York Council assistant chief executive Peter Berry said a full appraisal of the economic benefits to the city would be conducted.

The council plans a survey of all the press and TV reports on Ecofin around the world to see how much York played a role in them.

But it was already clear that York would have faced a bill running into millions of pounds if it had had to pay for the TV, radio and newspaper coverage of the city that resulted from the conference.

"We have had TV crews from every country in the EU, and the satellite coverage has no national boundaries," Mr Berry said, adding that journalists had praised the welcome provided by York to the media.

An Evening Press survey of international reporters covering the event revealed that key images of city attractions, such as the Minster, City Walls and Assembly Rooms, appeared as the backdrop to reports on TV stations across the Continent, from Finland to Italy, and even former Communist countries such as Hungary.

Concha Lozano, from a Spanish TV station with up to 1.5 million viewers, said Ecofin was one of the two or three international stories it was covering over the weekend, and images of the city would appear in reports.

Gillian Cruddas, chief executive of the York Tourism Bureau, said hotels and attractions would feel the effects of Ecofin in extra visitors coming to the city.

The Evening Press review of the European Finance meeting in York.

See COMMENT 'Make the most of this success'.

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