Investment in Tourism Paying Off For North East England

25th September 2008

Categories: Latest Research

Value of Tourism Grown by 30% Over Past Five Years

The value of tourism to the North East economy has grown by 30% over the past five years.

Figures released today by One NorthEast, show that tourism is now worth nearly £4 billion annually, to the region’s economy. This represents a 30% increase in tourism revenue over the past five years from 2003-2007.

The tourism sector directly employs 60,775 people in North East England - an increase in 14.5% over the past five years from 2003-2007. In addition one million more visitors are now staying overnight in North East England than in 2003 – an increase of 12%.

Margaret Fay, Chair, One NorthEast Board said:

“As these figures show, business and leisure-related visitor spending is extremely important to the region. The visitor economy has shown significant growth over the past five years, and in 2006-07 alone revenue increased by 3% and direct employment in the sector by 5%.

Growth right across the region

The figures show a steady growth in visitor numbers right across the region. In particular over the past five years:

Durham has experienced strong growth in overnight visitors with an increase in 13% since 2003, not forgetting the day visitor that makes up 90% of the county’s visitors
Northumberland has seen a steady increase of 5% in overnight visitors, with the non-serviced accommodation sector showing a significant increase.
Tees Valley has shown strong growth with an increase of 34% in overnight visitors and 38% increase in revenue from overnight visitors in the 5 year period.
Tyne & Wear, which attracts over 48% of the region’s visitors and 51% of spend, has shown an overall growth of 5% over the past five years.

Investment so far

One NorthEast took over strategic responsibility for tourism in North East England in 2003. Over the past five years the regional development agency has invested £34.5m in the development and marketing of tourism:

In 2004 it created the independent North East Tourism Advisory Board made up of tourism professionals, to advise the One NorthEast board on tourism related matters.
In 2005 it developed the Tourism Strategy for North East England 2005-2010, aiming to increase visitor numbers and visitors spend, increase visits throughout the year and increase employment in the sector.
In 2005 it launched the ‘Passionate people. Passionate places’ campaign for North East England.
In 2006 it created the first ever TV advertisement promoting North East England.
In 2006 it established Tourism Network North East creating four new Area Tourism Partnerships: Northumberland Tourism, County Durham Tourism, Tees Valley Tourism, and Tourism Tyne and Wear.
In 2006 the regional e-business platform, Desti.ne, was launched, creating a single electronic platform for the network, powering regional and national tourism websites with content about North East products and enabling smaller accommodation providers and attractions to take advantage of the real time booking opportunities of the internet.
In 2007 One NorthEast started a major marketing and PR campaign targeting the Australasian market after the launch of the new Emirates flight to Dubai from Newcastle International Airport.

Want to know more?

Visit the Using Research section of the Toolkit
Visit the One NorthEast wesite

RSS News Feeds

Back to the Top

Listen

NewcastleGateshead Hotel Investment Factsheets: 736 Kb; Detailed work following on from the Regional Accommodation Action Plan to inform possible hotel developments in NewcastleGateshead
Hows Business Survey April - June 2009: 109 Kb; How's Business Survey 2009
Delivering Better Intelligence - an Introduction to the English Tourism Intelligence Partnership: 468 Kb; Delivering Better Intelligence
Tourism Intelligence October 2009: 78 Kb; Quarter 3 2009 performance summary
Tees Valley Visitor Survey Report 2008: 2.4 Mb; Tees Valley Visitor Survey 08
County Durham Visitor Survey 08: 1.5 Mb; County Durham Visitor Survey 2008
Tourism Intelligence January 2008: 264 Kb; The latest data from the region and wider industry trends
NETAB Annual REport 2008: 1.6 Mb; The annual report from the North East Tourism Advisory Board commenting on performance of tourism in the North East in 2008
Visitors to Tees Valley: 43 Kb; Where do visitors come from?
How do they book their trips?
Who do they travel with and do they get here?
County Durham STEAM 2007: 170 Kb; County Durham Volume and Value of Tourism STEAM 2007
Tees Valley STEAM 2007: 330 Kb; Tees Valley Volume and Value - STEAM 2007
North East Visitor Survey 2008: 2.5 Mb; 2008 Regional Visitor Survey
Visits to Attractions Annual Report 2008: 310 Kb; Annual report on visitor numbers to attractions in the North East in 2008
Self Catering Occupancy Report 2008: 287 Kb; Self Catering occupancy report 2008
Use and Effectiveness of holiday guides: 60 Kb; An insight into the role that holiday guides have to play in today's consumer climate, to inspire and inform and aid in the booking process. Do they still have a role to play both for consumer and for businesses.
GVA: 255 Kb; A report produced by Durham University on behalf of One NorthEast to look at the GVA attributable to tourism
Visitors to County Durham: 38 Kb; Where do visitors come from?
How do they book their trips?
Who do they travel with?
National Group Travel Report 2006: 2.8 Mb; Clear, readable report, by QA Research, giving clear insights into the group travel market in the UK.
Tourism Intelligence March 2009: 93 Kb; Snapshot summary of tourism regionally and nationally including a round up of 2008 performance
Investment Monitor Annual Report 2008: 621 Kb; Snapshot summary of Investment in tourism in the North East in 2008
Serviced Occupancy Annual Report 2009: 140 Kb; Serviced Annual Occupancy report 2009
How's Business Survey July - September 2009: 284 Kb; How's Business survey quarter 3 2010
Tourism Business Panel Survey 2007: 53 Kb; The findings from the 2007 Tourism Business Panel - a collection of over 200 tourism businesses of all types from across the north east England region. The report provides information on business confidence, business performance, visitors and employment.
Tees Valley STEAM report: 117 Kb; Tees VALLEY steam Analysis 2006
Heritage Visitors: 234 Kb; Breakdown of the Heritage visitor taken from the Regional Visitor Survey
Tourism Intelligence June 2008: 71 Kb; Round up of January - March 2008 and tourism performance and trends in te North East and nationally
Serviced Occupancy Report 2008: 344 Kb; Serviced accommodation occupancy report 2008
Transport Links: 170 Kb; PDF designed for visitors showing transport links into the region, including transport by ferry, rail, air and road with contacts and mileages.
Attractions Trends: 87 Kb; Trends in Visitor Numbers to attractions in the North East
Tourism Intelligence June 2009: 76 Kb; Quarterly snapshot of tourism performance at a national and regional level
Heritage Tourism Report 2008 (2): 1.3 Mb; Heritage Tourism Report (2)
Visitors to Tyne and Wear: 38 Kb; Where do visitors come from?
How do they book their trips?
Who do they travel with?
Tourism Intelligence August 2009: 72 Kb; Latest research update for the North East
Tourism Intelligence October 2008: 82 Kb; October Intelligence update
Investment Monitor Annual Report 2009: 390 Kb
How's Business Survey Summary Report: 284 Kb; Hows Business Survey 2009
Serviced Occupancy Report 2008: 344 Kb; Serviced accommodation occupancy report 2008
Tyne and Wear STEAM 2007: 170 Kb; Tyne and Wear volume and value of tourism STEAM 2007
Tourism Key Facts: 1.5 Mb; Key Facts of Tourism 2006 giving an overview of regional tourism performance in the North East
Visitors to Northumberland: 40 Kb; Where do visitors come from?
How do they book their trips?
Who do they travel with and how long do they stay?
Heritage Tourism: 1.7 Mb; Report looking at how we maximise the potential of the heritage market for tourism
January - December 2009 attractions: 910 Kb; attractions monthly update
Tourism Intelligence February 2010: 82 Kb; quarterly national and regional round up of tourism data
Tyne and Wear Visitor Survey 08: 2.6 Mb; Tyne and Wear Visitor Survey 2008
Tourism Intelligence July 2008: 73 Kb; Latest round up of regional and national performance data
Heritage Attractions Research: 589 Kb; Heritage Attractions Research
Visits to Attractions Annual Report 2009: 122 Kb; Annual report visits to attractions 2009
Self Catering Occupancy Report 2009: 89 Kb; self catering occupancy report 2009
Investment Monitor Annual Report 2009: 390 Kb; Investment Monitor report 2009