Harrogate BID has forged a new partnership with Welcome to Yorkshire to help promote the town regionally, nationally and globally.
At its last meeting, Harrogate BID’s Executive Board accepted a proposal from the regional tourism agency to help to promote the spa town in a variety of ways.
Harrogate BID chairman John Fox said:
A significant element of our business plan is earmarked for promoting the town to both residents and visitors alike, hence this new partnership with Welcome to Yorkshire.
Our role is to get locals and tourists to always ‘visit Harrogate’ first and foremost, rather than doing internet shopping or visiting out-of-town shopping centres.
Harrogate has a great offering of bars, cafes, restaurants and shops. The blend of independent and national names is what makes the town centre so exciting. Our partnership with Welcome to Yorkshire is about promoting the whole of the town centre and all the different elements that make it special.
Over a number of years Welcome to Yorkshire has done an incredible job in raising the profile of the region. Recent research shows tourism is now worth £9 billion to the Yorkshire economy. This is what we are tapping into.
What we have initially signed up to is just the beginning. Over the course of our partnership the message we will be shouting loud and clear is Harrogate town centre is a must-visit destination for shopping, dining, leisure, heritage and socialising. It has something for everyone.
Peter Dodd, Commercial Director at Welcome to Yorkshire, said:
We’re delighted with this new partnership and look forward to collaborating with Harrogate BID to help showcase the many highlights that the elegant spa town has to offer on an international scale.
This September, it will go global for the UCI Road World Championships, where races across all nine days will culminate in Harrogate and be seen by millions on TV and at the roadside.
We’re excited about working with Harrogate BID to further promote the area as a great place to live, work and visit.
Over the next five years, a levy on qualifying town centre businesses will raise more than £3m which will be re-invested by the BID into promoting Harrogate’s shops, hotels, bars and restaurants to a world-wide audience.
It is already supporting next month’s Tour de Yorkshire – which comes to the town on Friday, 3 May – by contributing to a special tour brochure to encourage tourists unfamiliar with Harrogate to visit.
Over the next three months, Harrogate BID is further involved with a variety of Welcome to Yorkshire publications, all aimed at attracting visitors to Harrogate for a variety of reasons.
Harrogate’s night time economy, and in particular town centre bars, will feature in Welcome to Yorkshire’s “Pubs and Breweries Trail” publication.
And, ahead of the school summer holidays, more than 40,000 copies of “Yorkshire’s Big Playground”, again featuring Harrogate, will be printed and circulated across the region and further afield.
