Work underway to relaunch Northumberland tourism trade worth £1billion and employing more 13,000 people

The importance of tourism to the Northumberland economy has been highlighted as businesses set their sights on recovery.
Bamburgh Castle and Alnwick Castle.Bamburgh Castle and Alnwick Castle.
Bamburgh Castle and Alnwick Castle.

Figures released to coincide with English Tourism Week show that Northumberland welcomed 10.48m visitors in 2018.

Tourism spend is worth £1bn to Northumberland and the sector directly employs more than 13,000 people and is the county’s second largest employer.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Since 2012 the county has seen a 17% growth in visitor numbers and 35% growth in economic value.

Northumberland County Council is supporting the tourism sector through the coronavirus crisis through its business hub.

Coun Peter Jackson, leader, said: “Our businesses are key to driving forward our future prosperity and recovery of the county.

“We know that the coronavirus pandemic has been incredibly tough on our businesses and residents and we have been working tirelessly to support them through this time.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We are continuing to work with the Government to make sure that all our businesses, particularly those smaller businesses in the tourism sector are not overlooked and receive the support they need to survive.”

Alnwick Castle. Picture Jane ColtmanAlnwick Castle. Picture Jane Coltman
Alnwick Castle. Picture Jane Coltman

Coun Cath Homer, cabinet member for tourism, added: “Our tourism industry is hugely important to the county, and we know that businesses in the sector are very concerned about how we recover from this.

“We need to make sure that we are putting those plans in place now, to ensure that we continue to have a strong tourism sector which is prepared and can react quickly to current restrictions continuing to ease.

“We are working with our tourism partners across the county, and with VisitEngland and VisitBritain to ensure that Northumberland is in prime position to welcome visitors back to the area when the time is right.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The council has released a video to let visitors know that when the time is right, Northumberland will be ready and willing to welcome everyone back with open arms, produced by creative agency Drummond Central.

Bamburgh beach and castle.Bamburgh beach and castle.
Bamburgh beach and castle.

Residents, visitors, partners and national bodies are all being encouraged to use the video.

On Thursday, May 28 people are being asked to share their memories of favourite holidays in the county to the Discover our Land and Visit Northumberland Facebook pages.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you.