Lower footfall and visitor numbers recorded in city

Visits to York's tourist attractions and city centre footfall have both declined so far this year compared with 2025, new figures show.

Data published by tourism body Make It York showed city footfall monitors recorded 15.08 million visits between January and June, down 8% compared with the same period last year.

Visits to attractions also fell by 17% year-on-year during the first half of 2026.

However, the report suggested there were signs of improvement during the spring and early summer, with attraction visits increasing and some parts of the city recording higher footfall.

Footfall figures are based on electronic monitoring equipment which records pedestrian movements at locations across the city centre and do not represent individual visitors.

The figures are contained in an update on Make It York's work which is due to be discussed by councillors on 12 October.

Data showed footfall on Parliament Street fell by 28% in the first half of the year compared with 2025, although visitor numbers there increased by 5% in June.

Micklegate bucked the trend, recording a 1% rise in footfall during the first six months of the year and a 4% increase between April and June.

Visits to major attractions including Clifford's Tower and the National Railway Museum fell year-on-year, while smaller attractions saw a steeper drop.

Separate figures showed York attracted 8.8 million visitors in 2025, fewer than the previous year and below pre-pandemic levels.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service international visitors accounted for 18% of the total, up from 14% a year earlier, while overnight stays also increased.

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