THE North-East’s £4bn tourism industry has bucked the national trend as the only area outside London to show an increase in visitor numbers last year.

As many parts of the country recorded a significant fall in visitors, partly driven by the economic downturn, more than four million people visited the North-East, a ten per cent increase, according to VisitBritain’s United Kingdom Tourism Survey (UKTS).

The report, which showed the average visitor spend in the region up by seven per cent, revealed a drop in visitor numbers of 4.65 per cent for the UK as a whole.

Early figures for this year suggest the industry, which employs more than 60,000 people in the North-East and is worth £3.9bn to the local economy, is set for another good year.

In the Tees Valley it supports 11,000 jobs and brings in £542m. Julia Frater, head of tourism partnership visitTeesvalley, said: “Tourism is a very important part of the Tees Valley economy. We expect the numbers to further increase this year as more people choose to holiday in the UK.”

Stacy Hall, director of communications and tourism at regional development agency One North East, said the UKTS figures demonstrated the importance of the visitor economy to the region, adding that the first part of this year had also been “encouraging”.

She said: “North-East England now has more than ever to offer visitors as a result of One North East’s investment in new attractions like mima art gallery, Saltholme, the relaunch of Locomotion and ongoing support for existing attractions like the Bowes Museum. It is essential that we continue to invest in tourism and promote the region as a fantastic destination to visit.

“This in turn helps attract significant private sector investment resulting in highquality accommodation.

“The Tall Ships’ races, coming to Hartlepool in 2010, will help build the Tees Valley’s reputation for hosting worldclass events.”

In March, hotel occupancy in NewcastleGateshead was at its highest level for five years and a survey showed that the city has the highest hotel-occupancy rate of any destination outside London.

Andrew Dixon, chief executive of the Newcastle- Gateshead Initiative, which markets the area, said: “This confidence in Newcastle- Gateshead has boosted hotel development providing greater choice for visitors and business tourists, which in turn is having such a positive impact on the local economy.”

Apart from traditional attractions, an Australian top ten on the Yahoo! 7 Travel website showed interest in Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll made Croft-on- Tees, near Darlington, their number one North-East destination.

A carving on the wall of the village’s church is thought to have inspired the famous Cheshire Cat. Sunderland’s connections to Carroll’s Walrus and the Carpenter are also mentioned.

Other more traditional attractions such as Durham Cathedral, Holy Island, Hadrian’s Wall and the Beamish Museum, in County Durham, also make the list.

Richard Evans, director of Beamish, said “It has been a fantastic start to the season.

Although we were worried the recession might affect visitor numbers, in fact the reverse is probably true and we have been incredibly busy. Our visitor numbers have been well up this Easter, and this is on the back of a very successful February and March.”

The UKTS survey also showed that between October and December last year the number of people visiting the region went up by nearly 30 per cent, to just over one million people.

This compared to a decrease for the UK as a whole of 11 per cent for the same period.

TOP ten North-East destinations for Australian visitors (Source Yahoo! 7 Travel)

1. Croft-on-Tees
2. Sunderland
3. Durham City
4. Beamish Museum
5. Alnwick Castle
6. NewcastleGateshead
7. Hadrian’s Wall
8. Blackfriars, Newcastle (England’s oldest purposebuilt restaurant)
9. Lindisfarne (Holy Island)
10. Seven Stories, Newcastle (national centre for children’s books)