Partner Article

Music tourism in the North East flourishing

The arrival of some of the worlds biggest music acts to the region has given the local economy an enormous boost as fans have flocked to the North East.

The recent high profile Take That concerts at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light and the Evolution Weekender, which took place on Newcastle’s Quayside, have boosted the average hotel room rate by 42%.

Over the weekend of the 27-28 May, hotel room occupancy also rose to 98%, in comparison to 91% in the same period last year.

The remainder of the year also looks set to attract thousands more visitors, with Premier League football at Newcastle United, the inaugural NewcastleGateshead Bridges festival, the Great North Run and the Turner Prize at the BALTIC.

Sarah Stewart, chief executive at destination marketing agency NewcastleGateshead Initiative said: “It is great to see the local economy benefit from the recent bank holiday events.

“These figures demonstrate the impact of large-scale events on the local economy. The quality of the music acts performing across the bank holiday had a definite impact on demand for hotel rooms in the region and the overall revpar in NewcastleGateshead.

The region is now looking forward to 2012, when the Olympic Games come to London. The region is set to host Olympic football, as well as an array of events and festivals linked to the games.

Martin Robinson, general manager at Hilton Newcastle Gateshead added: “Newcastle is less than 3 hours from London by train so its reasonable to expect that visitors from outside of the UK will want the convenient access into central London without the capital’s price tag, and it’s here that North East business can benefit.”

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