Tories back down over North East tourism spending row

Jun 27 2009 by Rob Pattinson, The Journal

“And it is not hard to see why. With such fantastic places to visit the North East has excelled at promoting itself.”

Mr Ellwood’s previous comments suggested Government funding for tourism should be focused on promoting parts of the country already attracting large numbers of visitors, rather than be used to promote areas of the North East.

Yesterday he said: “We would want to give local authorities like Gateshead or Durham councils a stronger voice in the promotion of their areas. We would allow them to keep any increase in business rates they get for six years.

“This would give them a direct incentive to attract more tourist businesses into their areas. And to help them do this we’d give them a new discretionary power to levy business rate discounts as they see fit.”

Tourism groups in Newcastle last night welcomed the apparent change of heart.

Andrew Dixon, chief executive of the Newcastle Gateshead Initiative, said: “A decade ago NewcastleGateshead was not really on the map as a tourist destination, yet promotion has radically altered that and now nearly 20m visitors flock to the twin cities a year.

“We need to continue to invest in tourism as its benefits are enormous.”