Member Article

Singing the Praises of North East England

A tour of North East England has resulted in a choir singing the praises of the region.

A group of 32 singers and their friends from the aptly named, Der Gesangverein Freundschaft (The Singing Club Friendship) from Hamburg in Germany travelled to North East England to enjoy a six-day tour with Northern Secrets.

Staying at the Ramada Hotel in NewcastleGateshead the tour took them to the Farne Islands, Durham City, Hadrian’s Wall, Cragside and Alnwick as well as Sage Gateshead – reflecting the report from Visit England last month that country parks, gardens, wildlife attractions as well as historic houses and castles are the places that are attracting visitors the most.

The Choir group said: “The trip was excellent – we especially enjoyed the mix of boat trip, cultural exchanges and tours, free-time and coach excursions in general. Nothing came too short and Alex’s explanations were easy to follow yet comprehensive and interesting.”

Following this trip a further 30 choir leaders will visit the region in November with a view to bringing many more tours here from Germany in the next few years.

The trip was hosted by Northern Secrets which has been operating since 2008 and provides personalised and bespoke quality tours around northern Britain including Scotland, Wales, Yorkshire and North East England.

Managing director, Alex Jacobs said: “There was a report earlier this year that highlighted the value of music tourism to the north east economy. We are finding that international visitors with a passion for music want to visit the area but are also very interested in seeing what else the region has to offer, which can only be beneficial to all tourism businesses. There is a real appetite for visiting this amazing region.”

The Wish You Were Here 2015 report revealed the vast contribution of music tourism to the local economy in North East England. In 2014:

• £78 million generated by music tourism
• 361,000 music tourists attending music events in the region
• 624 full time jobs sustained by music tourism
• £648 average spend by overseas music tourists

Alex Jacobs has just returned from a top tourism trade show, RDA, in Germany where he represented some of the region’s top attractions such as Alnwick Castle, Alnwick Garden, Beamish, Bede’s World, DFDS Seaways, Durham Cathedral, Durham University Attractions, Ford & Etal, Hadrian’s Wall Roman Army Museum & Vindolanda and Sunderland.

Northern Secrets is aiming to increase the German coach market for tourism businesses in North East England. There are 19.4 million bus and coach holidays taken by German people every year, with a value of over 10 billion euros. And two-thirds of these trips are to destinations outside of Germany. North East England is already a popular destination for German holidaymakers with 56,000 visiting every year.

Alex Jacobs is a Blue Badge Guide for and has been bringing trips and tours to North East England from Europe since 2008. Alex is bi-lingual and has lived and worked in both Germany and the UK but it is his passion for this region, North East England, where he grew up that drives his business.

Established in 2008 Northern Secrets is a small tour company based in Newcastle that specialises in trips and tours to Northern Britain. Bringing over 7000 people to the region every year it provides quality bespoke group holidays. It aims to not only bring people to the region but to let them really experience the north east.

For more information: www.northernsecrets.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Deb Sharratt Communications .