'Fill more hotel rooms, sell more coffee' - plan unveiled to make Sheffield ‘leading’ European destination

Tourism is worth £1.35bn-a-year and employs 13,000 people in Sheffield - but councillors hope to make even more.

They have adopted a strategy to make the city a 'leading destination for visitors across Europe'.

The new Destination Management Plan aims to provide a 'framework' to boost numbers.

Councillor Martin Smith, chair of the economic development and skills committee, said they had an ambitious plan and looked forward to delivering it.

He added: "It will help fill more hotel rooms, sell more cups of coffee, fill more restaurants and see more money spent with local businesses."

The key targets were city breaks, conferences, events, business trips and students, he added.

Meanwhile, the authority’s marketing department says it has run campaigns to increase student numbers, city breaks and business trips which have reportedly seen web visits rise from 2,000 daily to 8,000 daily.