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Staycation boost for North East

HOTELS and B&Bs in the region have enjoyed their busiest April in ten years as the ‘staycation’ trend persists amid ongoing economic uncertainty.

Occupancy levels for serviced accommodation in the North East stood at 65% for April, the highest they have been for that month since 1997, according to figures released by regional development agency, One North East.

In addition tourism businesses in the serviced accommodation sector have recorded an increase of three percentage points for the first four months of 2010 compared to the same period last year.

The Easter weekend itself saw an increase in occupancy on last year, and the staycation trend seems set to continue into the summer with recent figures released by VisitEngland, the national tourism body for England, showing that half of the population of the UK will take more domestic breaks this year.

Online booking is continuing to play an important part and research shows that 50% of visitors now book at least one element of their holiday online.

The value of online bookings via Desti.ne Frontdesk, the regional booking system, is already exceeding last year’s performance with the value of bookings up 23% on the same period last year.

Tourism is worth almost £4bn to the region’s economy and employs more than 60,000 people.

Stacy Hall, director of communications and tourism, One North East said: “One of the major selling points of the region is the breadth of natural and built attractions and this is complemented by the quality of accommodation available to visitors. The continued investment by the private and the public sector in North East England means there are now many more options for visitors to enjoy a quality visitor experience.”

With the bank holiday approaching, hospitality bosses are certain to be gearing up for another bumper weekend, with visitor attractions such as Alnwick Castle (pictured), becoming increasingly popular with people outside the region.

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