THE number of overseas tourists visiting the region is rising significantly, it has been revealed.

The lure of Newcastle and other English cities is helping overseas tourist numbers reach record levels.

The number of visits to Newcastle by foreign residents has risen by 11 per cent over the past two years, the VisitBritain organisation said.

Trips to Liverpool have doubled in the same period, while overseas residents have also made 60 per cent more trips to Birmingham, Manchester is up 35 per cent and Nottingham up 15 per cent.

This year will see 26.4 million overseas visitor trips to the UK, beating the previous best in 1998 and 2000, said VisitBritain chief executive Tom Wright. He said: ''More and more people around the world are enjoying more of what Britain has to offer.''

Tourism is worth about £76bn a year to the UK economy and employs about 2.1 million people. Mr Wright said it was hoped that tourism would be worth £100bn by 2010.

He said about 40 to 50 per cent of accommodation in England was displaying the new standard rating system, agreed with the AA, RAC and other hotel-grading bodies, so tourists could make like-for-like comparisons of quality.