Discover region's hotspots for less

Apr 7 2009 by Paul Loraine, The Journal

SUPPORTING The Journal’s Think North East First campaign has just become easier and cheaper – with the launch of a discount pass for the area’s top attractions.

Tourism Tyne and Wear’s “Discover pass”, which costs £1, offers reductions and deals at more than 40 visitor hotspots.

We are calling on Journal readers to support the North East economy through the recession by visiting the attractions on their doorstep, buying local produce and generally backing the region’s businesses. This pass will make that support more affordable, providing offers at sites including Segedunum Roman Fort in Wallsend and Gibside, the 18th Century landscaped gardens and hall in Gateshead.

People can enjoy a River Escapes cruise on the Newcasatle-Gateshead Quayside as well as trips to Silksworth Ski Slope in Sunderland or Bede’s World in Jarrow, South Tyneside. Following its success last year, the pass has been launched again.

Offers for those with a pass include “buy one get one free” on admission, discounts in cafes and gift shops and free child places.

The pass is now available form tourist information centres across Tyne and Wear and can also be bought online for £2.

Tourism co-ordinator at Tourism Tyne and Wear, Cath Hindle, said: “We are really pleased to see Discover develop for 2009.

“Its popularity last year means that as well as offering fantastic discounts at attractions across Tyne and Wear, the pass can now also be used further afield in Durham and Northumberland.”

Among the other offers available with the card are two-for-one deals at Newcastle Racecourse in Gosforth and the Blue Reef Aquarium in Tynemouth.

The pass will also allow children in free for a tour of St James’s Park – home to Newcastle United. And for literature lovers, one free child can be admitted to Seven Stories, the centre for children’s books in Newcastle, along with one paying adult.

To coincide with the launch of Discover the tourism group has also produced a pocket guide for 2009.

Listing all of the top places to visit and things to do in 2009, the guide covers all of Tyne & Wear. It is available to pick up at tourist information centres, North East airports and ports, hotels, attractions, libraries, and restaurants and bars across the region.

Including accommodation listings, the pass is available at Tourism Information centres nationwide. In 2008, more than 1,500 copies of the Pocket Guide were downloaded from the website and 1,000 people registered to receive further information while almost 4,000 Discover Passes were sold. Details of all the offers can be seen at www.visitnewcastlegateshead.co.uk/discover