 |
Report to City of York Council Shareholder Committee
Monday 3 February 2025
Introduction
This paper provides an update of Make It York’s (MIY) activities from the new Service Level Agreement from October 24 to January 25. It also presents:
Appendix 1 – Management Accounts report incorporating Profit & Loss statement, Balance Sheet and Cashflow forecast - November 2024 (Confidential).
Appendix 2 – MIY Business Plan 2022 - 25
Appendix 3 - SLA strategic linkages Key Performance Data dashboard.
Appendix 4 – MIY Risk Register
2024/25 is proving to be a strong year for MIY (Make It York) with revenue streams improving. We have delivered three free sculpture trails for residents and visitors to enjoy and experience along with strengthening York’s position as the destination of choice to live, work, study, and visit.
Financial Position April 2024 – March 2025
The current forecast position at the end of March 2025 is for another profitable year.
Income is higher than 2023-24 thanks to the invaluable support of members and partners. This has allowed us to promote the city both nationally and internationally whilst also investing in MIY’s future.
York Pass, the Shambles Market and the Christmas Market have all performed extremely well this year, which aligns with more visitors to the city.
The snooks trail, run in partnership with St Leonard’s Hospice, the Trailblazers tansy beetles trail, run in partnership with York Civic Trust and the UNESCO City of Media Arts Expo, run in partnership with Aesthetica Magazine, have all been supported financially by MIY and have added real value to the city and its cultural offering.
The cash position is strong, which allows investment to be made in the company and its assets, specifically Shambles Market and York Pass. This enables MIY to further attract visitors and traders to the iconic market and by introducing a digital pass in 2025, this will enable users of the York Pass to enjoy more of the city’s attractions.
MIY has invested in a new PO system to enhance its financial governance, ensuring that every £1 spent is on furthering the objectives of the organisation. Monthly management accounts are provided to the executive team, the MIY board and the CYC client group for review.
The 2025-26 budget preparations (including forecasts for 2026-27 and 2027-28) are in place and the budget will be going to the MIY board for approval in February 2025. With a challenging economic climate, it is important for MIY to support its stakeholders and utilize its strong financial position in the year ahead.
With the new SLA commencing, the strong financial position of MIY should give CYC confidence that MIY is in a robust position to deliver on all its objectives for the years ahead.
Governance
The new SLA has been in place since September 24. Quarterly monitoring of the service level agreement, its outcomes and outputs takes place along with tighter monitoring arrangements in the form of strategic linkages Key Performance Indicators, and these are reported at monitoring meetings and Make It York Board meetings.
New Board Directors
Stuart Paver
Following a recruitment process for chair of MIY board and interviews
therecruitment panel has appointed Stuart Paver for the role. Stuart is the Chair of Pavers Shoes Ltd and is recognised as a dynamic business leader and philanthropist with over 40 years of experience in driving growth, community engagement, and sustainable practices in the retail sector. Stuart leverages his extensive background in business development and community support to promote York as a vibrant place to live, work, and visit. Stuart formally joined the board in January 2025.
David Flesher
David has significant commercial, marketing, sales, brand, and digital experience and has 20 + years' experience of leading and inspiring teams to develop and deliver commercial outcomes along with diverse experience across finance, automotive, rail, tourism, retail - both business and consumer. David brings to Make It York Board a wealth of expertise, experience, and knowledge with specialties in revenue growth, brand, marketing, profit performance and people.
It is important that board directors collectively have a broad range of skills and experience that they bring to the Make It York. David’s background, skills and experience will enhance the board’s skills. David joined the Board in January 2025.
Director Resignations
The Make It York Board has 2 director's resignations this period which are Judith McNicol and David Horne.
Performance
We continue to be transparent in measuring our impact. A copy of the most up to date Quarterly Strategic Linkages Key Performance Dashboard Report is included in the report pack (Appendix 3). This report has become stronger in terms of data reporting to show how we are having an impact and the return on investment, which is wider than a financial return on investment.
Accountability and Transparency
We have in place transparent and accountable processes and procedures along with a clear governance structure in place for Board members, Managing Director, and Heads of Service.
The board of directors meet bi - monthly and all board papers are circulated one week in advance with managers attending to present reports and answer questions.
Data reports are provided to the board including key performance data, evaluations including customer satisfaction, and industry data such as tourism data.
Human Resources
Following employment law changes in 2024, MIY policies and procedures are updated and compliant with employment law.
Partnerships and Engagement
Partnerships
We have good and effective external stakeholder relationships that enable us to deliver joint initiatives, collaboration on key projects and events. We work with Visit York members, MIY Member Advisory board, Hospitality Association York, Tourism Advisory Board, York BID, St John’s University, York College, York Explore, Museums Trust, York Civic Trust, National Railway Museum Trust, Aesthetica Film Festival and City of York Council.
We have good internal relationships with staff and facilitate regular staff meetings and initiatives. We meet regularly with CYC officers and provide expert advice as required.
Challenge on delivery of agreed outcomes
The Service Level Agreement (SLA) is monitored, and performance data is challenged as part of quarterly monitoring meetings with the City of York Council.
Health and Safety
Health and Safety – We have had no Health and Safety incidents.
All MIY delivered events are risk assessed and have event management plans in place are discussed at CYC Safety Advisory Group. All third-party events taking place on MIY managed spaces are required to complete detailed application forms and submit risk assessments, event management and noise plans and the organiser is required to attend a Safety Advisory meeting.
Training and Development
We have an annual training and development management programme in place for all staff. 27 staff have successfully completed project management training. This has offered personal development and increased skills and knowledge, planning projects, risk management, evaluation, and leadership.
Complaints
Make It York have adopted the Councils corporate complaints procedure to provide transparency and fairness.
We have received 6 complaints from Oct – December from members of the public, street entertainers and business. These complaints were all related to the provision of a ghost train on Kings Square. Comments made will be fed into future event planning and the use of Kings Square.
As we manage the second stage of busking on behalf of CYC, we receive business feedback on busking issues.
To date we have received 20 complaints regarding street entertainment.
We received 13 complaints regarding the Christmas Market. These complaints refer to the cancellation of the market due to Storm Darragh, food stalls, more seating and dwell areas, cost of carousel and its generator location, cleanliness of the city and rubbish, offerings of stalls, the duration of the market and congestion, blue badge access.
Risk Management
We manage businesses risks adequately and effectively
· We protect our data from security breaches and have adequate IT security policies in place and daily external data backup. We apply key multifactor protect for key elements of the business.
·
All staff undertake annual GDPR training.
· Our contractors provide adequate protection and assurances of securing our data held on their systems.
·
We have an adequate Risk Register in place that is reassessed on a
quarterly basis and monitor the top 3 risks.
· We have a full and comprehensive business continuity document that is tested and reviewed twice a year.
Assets
All our equipment in use is safe, maintained and employees are adequately trained on how to use the equipment prior to commencement of use. Appropriate maintenance contract in place for relevant equipment.
We have a retention and disposal asset schedule which is reviewed on a quarterly basis.
Annual Business Performance
Below providesinformation on our business performance during October to December 2024 to demonstrate the impact and services MIY provides for the city, visitors, residents, stakeholders, members, and customers.
Positive PR and Promotion for York
York has been named the third most festive city in the UK for Christmas, according to new research by LNER. The research, commissioned by train company LNER, looked at 88 towns and cities’ chance of a white Christmas based on snowfall on Christmas Day since 1960, the number of carol events, Christmas light switch-on dates, popular Christmas-related search trends, and the duration of the local Christmas market. Data was gathered from trusted sources such as the Met Office, AllEvents, Google search trends, and local councils. This data was then weighted against the population and calculated to give each city a score out of 100.
Digital stats
The UK's top 10 most festive cities
1. Edinburgh (66.8/100)
2. Aberdeen (64.4/100)
3. York (64.1/100)
4. Birmingham (62.1/100)
5. Chester (59.6/100)
6. Bath (59.1/100)
7. Stockport (58.6/100)
8. Newcastle upon Tyne (56.0/100)
9. Leeds (55.8/100)
10. Harrogate (55.7/100
Income and Sponsorship
We continue to maximise opportunities for sponsorship and income which secures best value for money for MIY managed assets such as public spaces, publications, the website, Art benches, digital TV screens and sponsorship of key event trails, which creates and supports the development of commercial partnerships. Sponsorship and advertising income has a “key role to play” in ensuring that we can continue to deliver several key outcomes such as events which are valued by residents, visitors, and businesses.
Hiring public spaces continues to be a challenge and income levels have been affected. The reasons for this are costs to hire the space, cost of utilities, and an increase in supplier costs. In addition to this some spaces are not suitable due to having no utilities or problematic due to permits required and delays in securing this and further work is needed to explore options to improve these locations. Some income has been lost through decisions from CYC.
Visit York Membership
Our Membership Advisory Board has met on 2 occasions. This group provides challenge, new ideas and an increased ambassadorial voice for the city. The group currently supports new ideas for events and the annual Membership Conference. This group also ensures that we are more accountable to our Membership and provide what Members want.
LVEP
Make It York has been involved in the development
of the Growth Plan and partnership agreement. This details the
scope of LVEP and key priorities for North Yorkshire. The plan and
agreement have now been approved by the Make It York
board.
Data and Analysis
Centre for Cities Spending Time Report:
Summary of Key Points About York
· Leadership in Visitor Spending: York leads the UK’s 63 cities in visitor spending, with one in every £3 spent in 2023 from people who do not live, work, or study in the city.
· Domestic Visitor Destination: York’s share of overnight visitor spend is 3.4 times higher than its share of the UK’s total urban population. Classified as a top domestic "destination city," this “Destination Ratio” of 3.4 reflects York’s ability to attract overnight visitors far exceeding its share of the UK urban population.
· Limited International Pull: Despite its domestic appeal, York is not a significant destination for international visitors, with UK spending dominated by London (77%) and Edinburgh (5%).
· Broad Geographic Reach: York attracts overnight visitors from a wider geographic area compared to day visitors, distinguishing it from a city like Sheffield, which has a similar level of visitor spending but less reach and draw for overnight stays.
· High Spending by Overnight Visitors: On average, overnight visitors spend £100 per trip, but the average for York is nearer £125.
· Visitor Contribution to Spending: In York, for every pound spent in town by locals, visitors spend 55 pence. In nearby Hull, this figure is just seven pence. York and Blackpool have similar shares of overnight visitor spend but overnight trips account for over half of total visitor spending in Blackpool, versus only a third in York. York captures day trip spend in a way Blackpool does not.
· Culture and Leisure Reliance: Over half of York’s spending on culture and leisure activities comes from visitors, highlighting their importance in maintaining these offerings.
· Food and Retail Strength: Visitors spend more on eating and drinking in York than locals. This means that visitors can sustain variety in merchants that locals otherwise could not. Spend data identified over 700 separate food and drink establishments in York, or 3.5 per 1,000 residents. In similar-sized Swindon, this figure is just 2.2 per 1,000. The type of establishments sustained in each place differs too. In York, 54% of total spend on food and drink is in cafes and restaurants versus 23% in fast food establishments. The figures for Swindon are 39% versus 37%. Overnight visitors are a big driver of this – in York, they spend four times more of their eating-and-drinking-out budget on restaurants compared to fast food.
· Specialised Retail: Compared to other cities, York supports more spend in high-end (such as jewellers), independent, and souvenir shops. Visitors account for over 40% of retail spend.
· Economic Dependence: Visitor spending is crucial to York's economy, providing jobs and sustaining local businesses. However, the city is over-reliant on tourism, highlighting the need for broader economic strategies to diversify and strengthen its economic base. The city is more reliant on visitor spending because locals do not have the pounds in their pockets to spend on the city’s high street. Having a visitor economy is a good asset for these places, but it cannot paper over other shortcomings in the local export economy. Their main challenge is not to double down on the former but to tackle the latter.
International Tourism
Growth in international tourism is a key focus for York
Attending trade shows offers opportunity to increase awareness of York as a key destination to visit, creates opportunities for collaboration and fostering new relationships with key partners and consumers.
Staff have or are attending the
·
World Travel Market in London which is home to the
world’s travel trade - the most influential travel and
tourism event globally.
· Vakantiebeurs Travel Fair which is one of the largest travel fairs events in the Netherlands. Travel companies, destinations, showcase to Dutch consumers. Vakantiebeurs aims to inspire people to plan their future holidays.
· British and Ireland Market Place, met with key decision makers from high quality buyers in a series of one-to-one appointments – from bespoke tour operators to key volume drivers – all ready to contract and do business
· ITB Berlin, Biggest trade show in Europe with exhibitors and trade visitors from all over the world. Around two-thirds of the exhibitors and almost half of the participants come from overseas– always with a prominent level of decision-making authority.
Digital Statistics
Visit York’s digital strategy has delivered outstanding results from April 2024 to December 2024, leveraging web, social media, and email marketing to engage audiences, promote the city, and support its stakeholders.
Web Performance
The Visit York website remains a critical tool for planning visits and showcasing the city’s attractions.
· Total Views: 3.4 million views from 1.3 million unique users.
· Average Session Duration: Visitors spent an average of 3 minutes on the site, indicating high engagement.
· Top-Performing Pages:
o Christmas Page: 272.8K views, reflecting the strong appeal of York’s festive offerings.
o Christmas Market Event: 261.5K views, showcasing the popularity of this annual highlight.
o What’s On Page: 159.9K views, reinforcing the importance of up-to-date event listings.
· Visitor Demographics:
· UK: 3.1 million views, dominating website traffic.
· US: 92,337 views, indicating growing international interest.
· Australia: 24,408 views.
The website’s consistent growth demonstrates its effectiveness in meeting visitor needs and supporting the city’s visitor economy.
Social Media Performance
Visit York’s social media channels have delivered record-breaking engagement, promoting York as a leading destination.
· Number of Posts: 4,297 posts published across platforms to maintain strong visibility and engagement.
· Total Impressions: 11.6 million, highlighting significant reach.
· Top Post: "York: The Most Haunted City in Europe" reached 1.86 million people on Facebook with 28,980 engagements, reinforcing York’s status as Europe’s most haunted city.
· Engagements: 368.6K total, with a 3.11% engagement rate.
Social media has provided an invaluable platform for promoting York, driving both awareness and direct engagement.
Newsletter Engagement
Email marketing has been highly effective in reaching audiences, supporting partners, and driving traffic to York’s offerings.
· Number of Newsletters: 128 newsletters sent, ensuring consistent communication.
· Total Recipients: 596,000 emails delivered between April 2024 and December 2024.
· Average Open Rate: 46.96%, well above industry standards.
Newsletters continue to be a key tool for engaging stakeholders and audiences, delivering targeted updates and promotions.
Marketing & Communications Campaigns
Halloween Campaign
Haunted York, a partnership between Visit York and York Park & Ride (FIRST), was designed to target new, spending audiences. While the city is already busy in October with pre-teen families, the funded campaign gave Visit York the opportunity to grow potential amongst older families, Generation Xs and Millennials from beyond the city borders i.e. a 2-hour travel time, spanning as far afield as Manchester and Newcastle.
For the first time this year, Haunted York also became a year-round campaign, with assets created that would last beyond Halloween week, cementing York as one of Europe’s most haunted cities with an extraordinary and award-winning collection of supernatural experiences to be enjoyed by visitors (and appreciated more by staying longer).
Like summer, this year’s Haunted York has been a record-breaking campaign on many levels:
· reaching new audiences
· exceeding all previous campaign performances in terms of audience reach and engagement
· providing a highly effective platform for our campaign partners and members to promote their own news and events.
Finally, it has played a crucial role in reinforcing York’s reputation as Europe’s most haunted city, and most importantly, a must-see, multi-faceted, and vibrant year-round destination.
· Haunted York social media posts reached 2.3 million people, + 44% on last year
· On Facebook alone, our stand-out campaign video achieved an audience reach of 1.86 million people – up 179% on last year. It was watched in full by 760k people, and there was a 239% year-on-year increase in resulting engagement.
· On YouTube, our campaign video achieved an audience reach of 1.56 million people (vs 173k people last year), leading to 402,000 interactions with our Haunted York webpages; it was watched in full by 204k people. The video was only served to our target demographic, which particularly underscores Visit York’s success in hitting the brief.
· In addition to the main video, 224,000 people watched bespoke reels created by our in-house team – and featuring Visit York members. In total, videos were viewed by 983.7k people on social media, a 26.8% increase from 2023
· The Haunted York online hub achieved 61.7k page views and 38.9k sessions, 10.1% up on last year.
· Over 4000 users were directed to partner sites from our Haunted Hub, a 79% increase on previous years. This was also great news for our campaign sponsors: York Dungeon, up 33% on last year, and York Park & Ride, up 27%.
· 206.3k users visited the Visit York website during the month, which beats the previous record of 204K in 2021!
· Haunted ENewsletters were sent to a national and local mailing list of 76,000 people, with a 61% year-on-year increase in click-throughs to partner content.
· An estimated 1,029,297 people viewed our Haunted York digital screens and art bench in Parliament Street during September and October.
· While the marketing campaign successfully generated interest in the city, there was also a corresponding uplift in visitors. Initial data suggests that in October 2024:
· Air BnB occupancy rose up to 74% vs last year’s 71%
· During Halloween week, 22% of visitors used York Park & Ride
· City footfall was up 8% on last year
· City footfall during the Halloween half-term week was up 9%
· York Park & Ride estimate that the campaign has given them a 4% increase in trips this year.
· This was a campaign that supported and featured York’s businesses. It gave them a highly-effective and accessible platform to reach spending visitors – an invaluable opportunity while a cost-of-living crisis continues to impact heavily on the visitor economy, and with many free activities within the city during Halloween acting as competition to charging attractions.
York Pass
The Visit York Pass currently provides access to 35 attractions and 16 extra value offers. The Visit York Pass has had a strong 2024/25 so far with 9236 Visit York Passes sold with total sales of £628207.50. In comparison to 2023/24, this represents a 19% increase of Visit York Passes sold (7737) and total sales (£529,398.75). Whilst the top sales location is directly through yorkpass.com, there are strong VYP sales through the Visitor Information Centre, Get Your Guide and Viator.
When viewing available demographic data (Quarter 1 – 2024/25) through yorkpass.com, 18,250 active users visited yorkpass.com with a 60% female and 40% male split. Whilst a portion of age demographic is unreported, the highest reported is the 25-34 category followed by the 45-54 category. 80% of active users were from the United Kingdom followed by USA (10%) and Australia (2%). When looking into the geographic location of active users in the UK, 41% of active users were from London followed by York at 10% and Newcastle at 5%.
In 2024/25 YTD, 43% of guests use their Visit York Passes on their same day as purchase with 23% of guests using within 7 days and 17% within 30 days.
Across the past few months, MIY has been working closely with TurboPass (software provider) to prepare for the launch of a new digital web application for the Visit York Pass – aiming for launch in March. This web application will optimise the guest experience from start to finish where guests can manage their Visit York Pass plans from one convenient digital platform.
MIY will continue to develop the Visit York Pass over the coming months.
Markets
Amended Rules and Regulations were implemented at Shambles Market in November 2024 once approved by City of York Council and Make It York Board.
The on-going sustainability of Shambles Market as detailed in the Service Level Agreement is dependent on the ability of Make It York to proactively manage and develop this, supported by a current and comprehensive set of Rules and Regulations.
The updated rules and regulations ensure:
· The market is operated in line with professional market management requirements and good practice.
· The market is operated and facilitates equality and inclusiveness for all traders.
· The market is a vibrant and financially viable market or deliver a market that this operated at cost neutral at minimum.
· They comply with legislation adequately.
· They are fair, transparent, consistent, and practical for all traders to comply with on all market days.
We have worked extensively with national organisations such as the National Association of British Markets (NAMBA) and the National Market Trader Federation (NMTF) in relation to Shambles Market operations. The updated Rules and Regulations we have created are being highlighted by NAMBA with all their members as an excellent example of operational regulations.
To this end NAMBA have invited Make it York to make a key speech at their for coming conference on good, inclusive Rules and Regulations and trader engagement.
Markets Charter
Little Bird Market – 1st – 4th August
The artisan market was delivered as part of Yorkshire day celebrations.
This was a well delivered Market with high quality traders, feedback from those traders has been positive, for a short market traders reported it was one of their best for trading.
Feedback from the public was positive. The Little Bird Team were professional and positive to work with. There were no reported incidents during the market.
The organisers are keen to return to York. It is the same organiser that provides a regular market at Acomb high street which has become a valued market for the local community. They provide an artisan market once a month and a regular produce market once a month on a trial basis.
Events and Festival
Orangery Summer Offer
Thors Orangery was part of the MIY Summer Campaign and encompasses city led engagement / community space.
Thors facilitated its own courtyard and delivered a programme of music and live events throughout the summer. It also provided 3 street food offers along with family BBQ on weekends.
The event employed 12 people for the duration. Participation directly to the venue was approx 30, 000.
There were no licencing issues during the event, no H&S incidents or complaints received for the duration of the event.
Christmas Market
Research undertaken by Cool Crutches and Walking Sticks to determine the nation's most accessible markets in the Uk. York was in the Top 10 for accessible market along with cities such as Edinburgh, Bath, Hyde Park, and Manchester.
Health and Safety
The Christmas market was closed for 1 day due to Storm Darragh. Normal trading commenced the following day. York was one of several markets that closed due to the storm impact.
There were 3 reported incidents during the market that were responded top and action.
Disabled Access
This year access was agreed with CYC during the Christmas market for blue badge holders to enable parking at Kings Square after 5pm rather than 7pm.
This was managed via a robust system to ensure that safety was not compromised. There were no reported incidents relating to blue badge access.
Evaluation data
https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:c4fff6d8-8fbe-4738-a70d-9b4768aeb466
Culture
UNESCO
UNESCO expo evaluation
MIY provided grant funding along with CYC and North Yorkshire Mayor to deliver a 3-day event.
UNESCO Expo event was held between the 7- 9 November 2024.
· 16 businesses exhibited at the Guildhall for the duration of the event each showcasing high level exhibition design.
· Each exhibit was interactive, fun and this is about play.
· All exhibiters were operating on a prominent level from York working in Media Arts.
· Offered opportunity for businesses to speak about developing their business as well as career focused sessions.
· Facilitated networking events during the event.
· Facilitated York Schools Day to engage as many young people as possible.
· Facilitated Residents Day to engage as many residents as possible.
Trailblazers
The full evaluation for trailblazers delivered in partnership with York Civic Society is in the link below.
https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:c74d8b75-f70f-40b2-8e0a-85b5ac9b9786
Conclusion
MIY is a going concern as the 2024/25budget demonstrates. The MIY team have worked hard to restore financial stability and strong management within the organisation and will continue to do so during 2024/25 we continue to offer all our services and deliver strong results both to visitors and to residents.