Staffing at the Harrogate district’s tourism body is to be reviewed this year as it continues the process of being absorbed into a new county-wide structure. 

Destination Harrogate was set up by Harrogate Borough Council and transferred to North Yorkshire Council on April 1 last year. So far, all employees have kept their jobs and are still working from Harrogate. 

Gemma Rio, head of tourism for North Yorkshire Council, told the Stray Ferret: 

North Yorkshire Council is now joining with City of York Council to create a new Local Visitor Economy Partnership for York and North Yorkshire.

The details of how it will operate are still being decided, but Ms Rio said that promoting the Harrogate district would be an important part of its remit. 

She said:

She said the council planned to take three approaches to marketing tourism in the county. One would be thematic, covering campaigns based on things that can be promoted across North Yorkshire, such as food and drink, or outdoor activities. 

Another would consist of seasonal content, such as campaigns at Christmas or during the summer. 

The third would be place-based activity, which Ms Rio said would be the most important approach of the three. 

That may reassure some in the district who had feared the district could lose prominence within a broader regional structure.

Before Harrogate Borough Council was wound up last year, its chief executive, Wallace Sampson, warned that merging Destination Harrogate into a county-wide tourism body could dilute the focus on individual places. 

But Ms Rio said: 

More than 60,000 people are employed in the tourism sector in York and North Yorkshire, which is worth more than £3.2 billion a year.

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