Tourism boost for North economy

The value of tourism to the North East of England's economy has risen by 30% in five years, new figures show.

Visitors now help contribute £3.9bn every year to the local economy, regional development agency One NorthEast said.

The figures show that direct employment in tourism has risen from 53,069 in 2003 to 60,775 last year.

Durham and the Tees Valley have experienced strong growth in overnight visitors since 2003.

Business spending

Tyne and Wear attracts 48% of all visitors to the region and 51% of the total regional spend.

The agency said one million more visitors were now staying overnight in the North East than in 2003, an increase of 12%.

Margaret Fay, chairwoman of the 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%."