Tourism Investment for North East EnglandThe North East of England has continued to benefit from large scale investment in tourism throughout 2009 Visit North East England have revealed.

A total of seven new tourism developments opened their doors in 2009 with a combined value of almost £90m and the potential to create up to 600 jobs.

These projects included the £25m Great North Museum, in Newcastle, which opened in May and has been visited by more than 600,000 people, doubling its target for the year. Saltholme Wildlife Reserve and Discovery Park, in Tees Valley, a £7m project, also opened in 2009 and has attracted 88,000 visitors.

The figures come from the Regional Tourism Investment Monitor, set up by Regional Development Agency One North East, in order to track investment projects with a value of more than £100,000.

Since it was set up in 2004 there have been 76 new tourism developments in the region bringing £382m worth of investment and creating 1,400 jobs, exceeding the target set in the Regional Tourism Strategy for 2005-2010 by more than £100m.

There are also a further 104 projects either under construction or consideration in the region, including Seaton Delaval Hall in Northumberland. The 18th century hall was saved from private sale by the National Trust after a huge public campaign to raise £6.3m, of which £3m came from public donations and £1m from One North East. The Hall is set to open this Spring.

If all of the projects on the monitor come to fruition they will bring a further £1bn worth of investment into the North East visitor economy.

Other developments which opened in 2009 are: Rockliffe Hall Hotel, near Darlington, a major private investment worth £50m; Seaton Lane Inn in Seaham, a new boutique hotel worth £900,000 and the Xcel Conference Centre in Newton Aycliffe, a £5m project which opened in December and offers a 1,000 seat auditorium and exhibition centre.

Stacy Hall, Director Communications & Tourism at One North East said: “Accelerating the rate of investment in the North East’s tourism offer is an integral part of the regional tourism strategy.

“The level of investment in 2009 was fantastic and the overall investment in tourism since the investment monitor was established has already surpassed targets which were set out in the 2005-2010 Regional Tourism Strategy.

“What is particularly significant is that much of this investment was led by the private sector, which demonstrates the levels of confidence in the North East economy. This includes high quality accommodation across the region such as the Hilton Hotel in NewcastleGateshead, Radisson Blu in Durham and the newly opened Rockliffe Hall in Tees Valley.

“Continued private and public investment in tourism developments will ensure that the region’s visitor economy will be able to benefit from the current ‘staycation’ trend.”

For more information on North East England go to www.visitnortheastengland.com, for car hire in Newcastle visit sixt.co.uk.

Source: visit north east england

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