A ROSY future was forecast by a tourism leader yesterday for holiday attractions in the North-East despite the terror attacks on London which have stopped some foreigners coming to the UK.

Tom Wright, chief executive of VisitBritain, said during a meeting at the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, County Durham, that he expected tourism in the region to go on expanding.

He said: "When you have wonderful scenery like this, along with culture, history and heritage, plus a host of outdoor activities, you are bound to attract visitors.

"The expansion of low-cost air services into the airports at Newcastle and Teesside will no doubt bring in more tourists from abroad, so I feel there will be more growth in the coming years."

Mr Wright admitted that he had driven past the Bowes Museum several times in the past while enjoying breaks in Teesdale, but had never gone over the threshold until he arrived for the meeting.

After being shown art masterpieces by the director, Adrian Jenkins, he said he was sorry he had not called earlier.

At the meeting he met a number of local hoteliers and other business people, along with officials of Teesdale Marketing, a group set up to boost the local economy through tourism and other ventures.

Mr Wright said the impact of the London bomb outrages on tourism figures was now being assessed, but he pointed out that numbers had kept growing despite previous setbacks such as the 9/11, foot and mouth and the Iraq war.

"Tourism keeps bouncing back from things like that, and I'm sure it will go on doing so," he said. "We want to encourage more people to come as the industry was worth £74bn to the economy last year."