Staff in Harrogate’s Tourist Information Centre have won the best window display in a Tour de France competition.
The competition among the TICs across the route of next year’s Yorkshire Grand Depart was organised by regional tourism body Welcome to Yorkshire. Welcome to Yorkshire is urging everyone to turn Yorkshire Yellow linked to the Tour’s coveted yellow jersey – the first yellow jersey of the 2014 Tour de France will be presented in Harrogate.
Yorkshire will be at the centre of the global stage next summer as the world’s largest annual sporting event starts in the county. The Harrogate district is unique in that it will host the Tour over two days. Stage 1, which starts in Leeds on 5 July, will finish in Harrogate having travelled through Masham, Ripon and Killinghall. And on day two the Tour will come back through Knaresborough and Starbeck before leaving high Harrogate for the race to Sheffield.
Two to three million people are expected to line the routes and millions more will be watching it live on TV. Whether they are here in person or tuning in from homes abroad, TICs have a very important part to play in making sure everyone can get the best from this unique opportunity for Yorkshire.
Councillor Pat Jones, the council’s Cabinet Member for Culture, Tourism and Sports is delighted with this award and has congratulated Helen Suckling, Visitor Services Manager and the team at Harrogate’s TIC.
Councillor Pat Jones said:
The display has had a lot of comments from visitors to the TIC and it is certainly attracting people in from outside. All our TICs are busy but we know that next year is going to be unprecedented and our staff are gearing themselves up for an extra busy time.
There really is a buzz about the Tour and our TICs and local tourism body, Visit Harrogate, are getting queries from right round the world.
Once we get over Christmas, there are more plans to decorate the district to welcome the Tour and we hope others will join in too and fly the flag for Yorkshire.
The winning window display was put together by Visitor Services Team Manager, Gilly Bendtson, with props loaned to TIC by local businesses including restaurant B.E.D. and a specially commissioned yellow jersey for the sheep.
Display temporarily removed for Christmas display but will be replaced after the holidays.
