A CONCERTED attempt to bring more lucrative business conferences to Durham will get under way next week.
A team from the Destination Durham project is heading to London for the UK's biggest conference trade fair, at Earls Court. Team members Margery Gill and Louise Sams will be at the three-day fair to sell Durham for academic, business and charity conferences.
Tourism is worth nearly £100m to Durham's economy, and the conference market represents a large and growing proportion of visitors.
Within the next two years, two hotels are expected to be built on opposite banks of the River Wear at Framwelgate Waterside, which will create an extra 300 bedrooms - more than doubling the accommodation in the city centre.
An increase in the number of conference visitors could produce a multi-million pound boost for the city.
Durham City Council tourism and conference officer Martin Boulton said: "Hotel occupancy is remarkably stable th-roughout the year in Durham.
"We are extremely lucky in that we get visitors through the summer and, once they disappear, the rooms are filled by students and business people."
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