PLANS to market York on a global scale - and inject "wow factor" - will be highlighted at a meeting today.

Make It York’s annual stakeholder meeting, at the Principal Hotel, will see business leaders from digital, rail-tech, bioscience, food and drink, tourism and creative sectors find out how the organisation will promote the city.

Sean Bullick, Make It York’s new managing director, is set to reveal how culture will be “put centre stage”, international connections will be “boosted” thanks to the city’s UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts status, and “European city brand experts” will help create a new appeal for York.

The meeting will hear that tourism figures are up year on year - with visits to main attractions up eight per cent, room nights sold up three per cent, and footfall up two per cent in 2018, compared to a national decline of two per cent.

Under the city’s new Cultural Strategy, Make It York aims to help the city “reach the top five in the UK league table for cultural engagement”.

Mr Bullick said: “By 2025 York’s ambition is to be internationally recognised for its unique interface between exceptional heritage and contemporary art. We need to build on York’s strengths but also dial up the city’s vibrancy and creativity to help ensure there is a wow factor here 365 days of the year. Our role is to increase the city’s economic prosperity and contribute to its wider wellbeing. By putting culture at the heart of what we do, we’ll encourage collaboration, inward investment and crucially encourage creative minds.”

A dedicated marketing campaign in China in 2018 saw the country affirmed as the second largest overseas market for York and a new two-centre break campaign with the North York Moors National Park delivered a 30 per cent increase in bookings on TripAdvisor.