Member Article

Durham tourism boss refutes TripAdvisor "list" snubbing North East

The chief executive of Visit County Durham has refuted a recent TripAdvisor list of Britain’s top ten destinations for tourists that did not feature the North East.

Melanie Sensicle, who heads the county’s tourism management agency, says people should be wary of such claims, that misrepresent the level of foreign and British tourists interested in visiting the region.

She told Bdaily: “It’s only one measure that is a fairly crude snapshot. Those of us who have worked in the tourism industry for some years know it’s much more a fine grain picture.

“Many of these surveys ask international visitors where they are going while they’re at major international gateways - and at that point in time, they might be heading for London. That isn’t to say they will visit other UK places.

“We know that Japanese visitors came to see the Lindisfarne Gospels, and that a Californian couple extended their stay in Durham especially to see the exhibition. We know that because they’d signed the visitor book.”

While London is undoubtedly a gravitational goliath for international visitors, Melanie says it is important for regional organisations such as Visit County Durham to work with the capital.

Even with the enormous successes of the recent events such as the Ashes test and the exhibition of the Lindisfarne Gospels, Melanie believes Durham has a long way still to go in terms of becoming a premier destination.

She added: “You’ve got long established organisations marketing the likes of Manchester internationally, or heritage cities of the stature of Bath and York - they have been at it a lot longer than we have.

“Over time people will see that destinations in Durham and the rest of the North East will get there with time.

“With Durham we are part of a consortium of heritage places in the UK such as York, Bath, Lincoln, Chester and Stratford. That’s a marketing consortium working to get people into the regions of England by providing them with a strong heritage offer.”

The marketing, Melanie points out, is only effective when the region has strong transport links to bring the visitors in. She praises the Newcastle Airport Emirates service as a major boost for the regional tourism industry, but also calls for a transatlantic route.

“We’ve got a lot of ‘product’ in the region - an abundance of attractions and services - but the routes are vital to them being maximised. When a tourist has so much choice and so much global connectivity - you have to make it easy for people to come to you,” said Melanie.

“We’re already fortunate that it’s easy for people to come from London up to the North East. Much more so than London to Cornwall, for instance.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .