Tourism boost for North East as visitor numbers rise
Oct 23 2009 by Peter McCusker, The Journal
Tall Ships Race will be main event of 2010
THE main tourist event in the North east in 2010 is going to be the Tall Ships’ Race with 250,000 visitors from outside the region expected to flock to Hartlepool next year.
With a week of festivities planned to coincide with the arrival of the ships authorities are anticipating a £16m boost to the regional economy.
Stuart Green, assistant director for planning and economic development at Hartlepool Borough Council, said it expects around one million visitors over the seven days of the festival.
He said: “While we expect many of the visitors from outside the region to come for the day, hotels in Durham and Tyne and Wear are already reporting bookings for the Tall Ship period.”
When the Tall Ships made their second appearance on Tyneside in July 2005, following its first in 1993, it was said to have boosted the regional economy to the tune of £50m.
An estimated 1.5 million visitors came to the event, with more than 40% of these from outside Tyne and Wear and 80% saying they liked it that much they would return.
Andrew Dixon, NewcastleGateshead Initiative chief executive said: “The Tall Ships’ Races event in NewcastleGateshead in 2005 was an enormous success, boosting the regional economy and raising NewcastleGateshead’s profile in the national and international arena. We again look forward to another successful event for the region, when the Tall Ships’ Races return to Hartlepool next year.”
