The North-East's £4bn a year tourism industry, a major employer in the region, is set to be given millions of pounds in extra funding on the back of its spectacular growth over the past five years.

Four tourist bodies in the North-East and North Yorkshire are included on a 14 strong VisitEngland list for a project aimed at inspiring Britons to take more short breaks and holidays in this country.

It is understood the North-East was included as it is viewed as one of the prime areas for growth.

It was the only area outside London to show an increase in tourists in 2008 and visitor numbers rose again from 80 million to 83 million last year.

Although the funding for each area is yet to be announced Visit County Durham, NewcastleGateshead Initiative and Northumberland Tourism are in line to receive up to £2m between them.

In addition Visit York is also set to gain a significant injection of extra money.

It is a welcome fillip to the regions tourism industry, employing 65,000, after its public funding, including marketing and promotional activity, was slashed by £2.5m in last year's budget cuts.

VisitEngland has secured the money for the Growing Tourism Locally project through a bid to the Regional Growth Fund (RGF).

Tourism is worth £650m a year to County Durham, supports 12,000 jobs and within the county has grown at a rate of 37 per cent over the last decade, compared to an average of nine per cent for other industries.

Melanie Sensicle, chief executive of Visit County Durham, said she didn't believe that if the same list had been drawn up previously County Durham would have been included.

She said: "All the work that the private and public sector have done together over the last six years this is the validation for the effort, time and money we have put in.

"I don't think six years ago Durham would have made the list."

She added: "VisitEngland have identified priority destinations that should benefit from this funding, that have the potential to grow."

NewcastleGateshead Initiative said it was chosen as a result of its ability to grow tourism in the region and strong private sector support.

NewcastleGateshead Initiative chief executive Sarah Stewart, said: "Ultimately we hope that these additional funds will make a direct impact on the visitor economy here, helping to grow visitor numbers, visitor spend and tourism employment in the long term."

The three-year Growing Tourism Locally project will see the public funding each area receives match funded by the private sector.

James Berresford, VisitEngland's Chief Executive said it was "an acknowledgement of the value of our industry to England's economy."

He added: "With this additional money we can mount a serious campaign to stimulate domestic tourism that has the potential to create the equivalent of 9,500 full time jobs in areas across the country suffering economic challenges."