MORE than two million visitors flocked to York city centre between October and December 2021.

The city's ongoing recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic has been highlighted in City of York Council's latest quarterly economic update.

Despite national challenges, business activity and consumer demand continues to be strong in York, with 2.1m people visiting in the final quarter of 2021.

The Centre for Cities’ high streets recovery tracker shows that up until the end of November, York’s footfall index and spend index was the second and third highest of any city and large town in the UK.

York’s economy is also expected to continue to grow, says the report.

Oxford Economics’ latest forecast suggests that York’s economy was one of the best performing in 2021, with its gross value added (GVA) estimated to have grown 9.8 per cent year-on-year, with a further six per cent growth expected in 2022.

Councillor Andrew Waller, executive member for economy and strategic planning, said: "The overall positive picture of a strong recovery in York is a testament to the incredible resilience of local businesses and the work carried out by the council and key partners across the city.

"Whilst these positive trends are very encouraging and confirm the effectiveness of the work carried out in the past two years, this remains an uneasy and challenging time for many local businesses.

"That is why we are continuing in our efforts to provide support, opportunities and timely information to businesses across the city.”

To help support businesses, the council launched its business growth voucher scheme in November, enabling local businesses to access up to £1,000 of expertise and support from other businesses across the city - helping those in receipt of the vouchers, while generating income for other local businesses.

The scheme has been hailed a major success, with 550 small and micro businesses applying for the scheme and more than 140 York-based businesses being approved as suppliers.

York Business Week was also held to support ongoing recovery efforts. During the week more than 600 delegates attended 35 events exploring business aims and opportunities for growth.

While the Omicron variant posed challenges to the business community as 2021 drew to a close, the council is now ready to offer additional financial support provided by the Government to help businesses impacted by the latest outbreak.

The authority has launched the Omicron hospitality and leisure grant and is preparing to hold another round of its additional restrictions grants.

The council also highlighted that collaborative work with the city’s rail sector was continuing, as efforts to attract Great British Rail to York progress.

Meanwhile, the authority said interest in York as a place to do business remains high, both in terms of businesses looking to locate to the city, and existing business looking to grow and expand locally.