It’s been a pretty tough year for the Tour de Yorkshire organisers, Welcome To Yorkshire, as the heavily criticised tourism board faced administration – but after being auctioned off to other interested parties, it appears the popular cycling race could finally return.
One of the first aspects of the businesses to suffer as the company faced financial difficulties, Manchester-based business Silicon Dales – who purchased Tour de Yorkshire alongside the tourism board’s social media channels and a number of domain names – has expressed interest in bringing back the race, three years after it last ran.
New owner Robin Scott, who hails from Leyburn, plans to create a new tourism body with the former Welcome to Yorkshire assets, running the business from a York-based office. Scott owns the e-commerce agency Silicon Dales, a business that builds and grows websites for its clients.
Scott said of the acquisition: “In the future, Yorkshire.com will be aimed at marketing Yorkshire as a tourist destination to visitors from overseas.
“We will attract new people to the region, and bolster our great county’s tourism sector, which has – like the rest of us – endured a truly dreadful couple of years.
“I’m now focussing on our first challenge, which is attempting to speak with all interested parties in order to try to save the Tour de Yorkshire.
“The clock is ticking on that very fast, and I can’t promise success, but we will pull out all the stops to make a deal happen for that fantastic cycling event.”
Adding: “When we learned the opportunity was still there to get the websites and content, we moved very quickly to try to save the memory of the fantastic 2014 Grand Depart, as well as attempting to preserve the legacy Tour de Yorkshire event.
“I’d like to thank everyone involved in Welcome to Yorkshire for their work promoting our region. We will make every effort to preserve the legacy of those efforts.”
Tour de Yorkshire last ran back in 2019, before it suffered from repeat cancellations at the hands of the pandemic. The organisers behind the event, Welcome to Yorkshire, fell into administration just last month, after it was revealed a number of local councils who helped to fund the business had pulled their backing. Council bosses now hope to start their own tourism board to help promote the region.
[Featured image: Photo © JThomas (cc-by-sa/2.0)]
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