When visitors from outside Yorkshire visit the county, many think they know what to expect.
Rolling hills, dry stone walls, mills whose purpose has long since changed, and folk who call a spade a spade.
But what they are generally not expecting is somewhere quite as genteel, refined, and interesting as Harrogate. As well as defying expectations, it also manages to attract many millions of visitors each year, enjoying huge success in 2023 thanks, in part, to the Destination Harrogate initiative.
However popular it may be, the fact that hotel occupancy was 78.7% across the year shows that there’s still more capacity, but how to fill that extra 21.3%?
Parks and gardens
One of the benefits of its location is that Harrogate has both gardens in town and those outside it. Many generations of families have had great times in Valley Gardens, for example. But perhaps it’s not being exploited to the full.
Many mourn the disappearance of the old pitch and putt course. Reinstate this as well as introduce a crazy golf course and you’d be able to attract players who aren’t quite up to the standards needed at Rudding Park.
Maybe more should also be made of RHS Harlow Carr. After all, the queues for Betty’s there are shorter than at the one in town, and there are also stunning gardens to discover.
Making an exhibition of ourselves
Undoubtedly, the millions of delegates drawn to the events at the exhibition centre account for much of the occupancy. So, a good place to start would be by providing even more of the sort of entertainment they would like.
There are already plenty of restaurants and bars, but nightlife is a little lacking. Some have floated the idea of opening a casino in the town. This could be an especially good idea given the extreme online popularity of people looking online for slots. Adding a casino would ensure visitors stay in the area late at night. However, there might be issues to do with licensing and it not being a very “Harrogate” kind of facility to offer.
The casinos in nearby Leeds are popular at peak times but they are coming under increased pressure from their online competitors. So, it looks like people wanting to play will be restricted to their laptops and smartphones for this kind of fun, for the moment at least!
Accentuate these existing attractions
It also be argued that Harrogate already has enough of its attractions to achieve the aim of increased numbers. It’s just a question of marketing them more effectively.
From The Great Yorkshire Show...
The annual event in July may be famous in the county. Beyond Yorkshire, on the other hand, it’s not so well known. Anyone who’s ever visited will know what a spectacular event it can be, especially when the sun decides to shine.
This too could be marketed a little more widely to encourage visitors from around Britain and beyond to enjoy its four action-packed days.
By putting together week-long stays and itineraries that could also take in visits to places like Ripley Castle and Fountains Abbey, it could be sold as the total Yorkshire experience. So it could be that the tickets for the show, already a sell-out, go faster than those for Glastonbury.
...to the great outdoors
There are many other great outdoor spaces in and around Harrogate waiting to be exploited.
They already have an open-air theatre in Newby Hall. So why not set up a stage along The Stray and hold a summer season of different plays?
Perhaps these could range from Shakespeare to The Mousetrap in homage to the time when Agatha Christie famously staged her own disappearing act only to be discovered in The Old Swan Hotel.
Other famous Yorkshire playwrights whose work could be performed in the open air include J.B. Priestley as well as the county’s beloved Alan Bennett.
The existing initiatives
It’s not just a question of filling up the peak times. Businesses throughout the town would appreciate any initiatives to boost business at quieter times of the year. Hence the popularity of Restaurant Week.
At the moment, this is held twice a year, in February and October. There is arguably scope for a third week in April when the visitor numbers are starting to rise again, but could still do with a boost.
Another big success has been the annual Christmas Fayre. By starting this a week earlier this would also give an extra few days for the retailers and hospitality sectors to make some seasonal hay.
Finally, closer collaboration is already in place with other visitor hotspots in North Yorkshire via the Local Visitor Economy Partnership. Working with the city of York in particular offers great mutual opportunities to cross-sell the many and varied attractions.
So there are plenty of ways that Harrogate can seek to swell visitor numbers in the future. Whether they’ll all be popular with residents when they’re desperately looking for a parking place on a Tuesday afternoon in July, remains to be seen!
