Member Article

Putting Tees Valley back on the tourism map

Tees Valley could soon be back on the tourist map of Britain, the chair of the newly-created Tees Valley Area Tourism Partnership believes. David Kelly, who recently retired after ten years as managing director of Newsquest (North East), publishers of The Northern Echo and Darlington & Stockton Times, leads a board of key people from the regional tourism sector. Together, they are responsible for driving forward tourism in the Tees Valley region. David Kelly said: “Area tourism partnerships are a key element in the strategy developed by our regional development agency ONE NorthEast for maximising the potential of the tourism economy across the region.” The strategy considers ways of strengthening co-ordination of tourism activity in the area and increasing the involvement of the private sector. Heading-up the new organisation is Julia Frater who has been at the helm of the Tees Valley Tourism Bureau for the past ten years. She added: “Tourism in the Tees Valley already supports well over 7,000 jobs and contributes around £350million a year to the local economy. And we have a growing reputation for the quality of our attractions and events, underlined very recently by the news that the Tall Ships Race will be coming to the Tees Valley in 2010. “The Partnership will strengthen our ability both to market what we have to offer and ensure that visitors enjoy the best quality of service and attractions when they come here.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .