Leeds City Region: Leaders aim to make sure region is showcased internationally

LEADING business figures in the Leeds city region are working together to ensure the high profile Tour de France event will be the ideal chance for the city to showcase itself internationally.

Le Grand Depart of the global sporting event will kick off next July and inward investment agency Leeds and Partners is already working closely with tourism body Welcome to Yorkshire and other organisations to make the most of the upcoming event.

Now, city region stakeholders are working to put out the right message about the Leeds city region to the rest of the world and ensure the area showcases itself in the best possible way to reap the benefits.

For the full story, click here to read our Leeds City Region supplement.

Tom Bridges, chief economic development officer at Leeds City Council, said: “It’s important we think now about what message we want to use big events like this to say about Yorkshire.

“It needs to be a more diverse and dynamic message than ‘we are a great place to live’.”

Bridges said he believes businesses must show Leeds is an attractive place to invest but also to mobilise businesses together and be outward looking.

Raymond Wolfson, chief executive of oil exploration data company GETECH, said it is important people do believe there is a good living experience in the area, as that is critical to recruitment.

A number of other business leaders in Leeds city region said the message is not yet getting out there. They highlighted that as a city, Leeds does not have the same international profile as counterpart regional cities such as Manchester and Liverpool.

Graham Bowland, chief executive of Leeds-based Surgical Innovations, said: “I travel the world and when people talk about Leeds it’s about the football club but they don’t know much about the city itself.”