Media Room

Latest News

All the latest news from the Industry and the Visit County Durham Grapevine newsletter.

Filter News

All Visit County Durham Industry

Filter results by date:

From Date:

Format: 29-12-2023

To Date:

Format: 30-12-2023

Industry

Majestic rare breed of horse arrives in County Durham

26 Mar 2024

A rare breed of horse that is listed as at-risk with less than 200 left in the world has become the newest cast member in an award-winning outdoor live theatre event. Knutsford Cosmopolitan – a majestic grey shire horse whose nickname is Cosmo – has been welcomed by the volunteer cast and crew...

Industry

Council secures £500,000 for further restoration works at Killhope Lead Mining Museum

26 Mar 2024

Restoration works to “protect the future” of the popular Killhope Lead Mining Museum in Weardale are set to take place throughout this year, thanks to a funding boost. Durham County Council has secured £500,000 from the Government’s Cultural Investment Fund to carry out a series of urgent...

Industry

North East’s world-class investment opportunities to go before a global audience at UKREiiF

22 Mar 2024

County Durham and Newcastle will join forces to fly the flag for the North East at a forthcoming trade conference attended by major developers and investors. Representatives from Durham County Council and Invest Newcastle will exhibit at the UK Real Estate & Infrastructure Investment Forum...

Industry

Hundreds of tourism businesses gather at iconic music venue to double the size of visitor economy

22 Mar 2024

Collaboration, visitor experiences that make memories and ‘shy bairns get nowt’ – the core themes at the first-ever Destination North East England tourism conference. This landmark visitor economy industry event Destination 2034 took over the iconic Glasshouse International Centre for Music...

Industry

Waybeams renewal project successfully completed ahead of schedule 22 March, Stanhope, Weardale

21 Mar 2024

Weardale Railway is thrilled to announce the successful completion of the Waybeams Renewal Project, marking a significant milestone for the heritage railway company. The project, which commenced on 26th February, has been finished ahead of schedule, ensuring smooth operations in time for the Easter...

Industry

11 million Brits plan a UK holiday trip for the Easter weekend, bringing a £3.2 billion economic boost

21 Mar 2024

VisitEngland’s Easter Trip Tracker survey, published today, indicates that 11 million Brits are definitely planning an overnight holiday trip in the UK for the Easter weekend, bringing an estimated £3.2 billion boost to the economy. The figures show a significant increase on last year’s Easter...

Visit County Durham

Regenerative Destination Management

20 Mar 2024

Visit County Durham's Lucy Wearne has recently been awarded a certificate in Regenerative Destination Management from GDS Academy. The course examined how to enable positive social, environmental and economic impact through tourism by using regenerative frameworks as well as fostering networking...

Industry

Familiarisation Visit

20 Mar 2024

The Auckland Project, in conjunction with Visit County Durham, is holding a familiarisation visit to Auckland Castle, Gardens and Faith Museum as part of their Accommodation Partner Scheme. The visit will take place on Thursday 18th April 2024 from 10:00am to 1:30pm (booking required). Becoming an...

Industry

1500 hours of painstaking work with several thousand parts make a working SilverSwan

20 Mar 2024

After more than 1500 hours of painstaking work carried out by specialist horologists, TheBowes Museum's iconic 250 year old life size Silver Swan, the only one in the world, is setto wow audiences once again as she comes back to life in her true form for the first time infour years. Visitors to the...

Industry

Europe’s largest collection of historic rail vehicles assembled at Locomotion

15 Mar 2024

Locomotion in Shildon, County Durham is to undertake the museum’s biggest ever rail shunt to create Europe’s largest undercover display of historic rail vehicles. Managed by specialist teams from Locomotion and the National Railway Museum, the shunt will see 46 vehicles (and one road vehicle)...

Industry

Hotel Occupancy

13 Mar 2024

Hotel Room Occupancy in England for January 2024 continues to show growth for North East England. Overall, room occupancy was 1% up on January 2022, and on a par with 2019. The North East England recorded the highest growth for January at 5%.

Industry

A66 Project approval

13 Mar 2024

On 7 March 2024, the Secretary of State for Transport approved the Development Consent Order for the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine project. This means National Highways now has permission to dual 18 miles of single carriageway between Penrith and Scotch Corner.

Visit County Durham

A message from Visit County Durham's managing director, Michelle Gorman.

13 Mar 2024

Visit County Durham is proud to be supporting English Tourism Week, which launches this Friday, 15th March and runs until Sunday, 24th March. The annual initiative provides an important platform to showcase the amazing businesses, people and experiences that are part of the county's visitor...

Industry

Durham Cathedral calls on people to help create Peace Doves for its upcoming summer installation

13 Mar 2024

Over 15,000 paper doves created by visitors with messages of peace will be suspended in Durham Cathedral this summer. Peace Doves, a mass-participation artwork by Peter Walker, is set to take centre stage in the Nave of the cathedral from 26 July. It will be made up of thousands of individually...

Industry

Chester-le-EATS Festival set to Expand

12 Mar 2024

Organisers of a hugely successful food, drink and music festival have announced plans to expand its footprint in 2024 – and are now asking traders who wish to be part of the event to apply. Durham Cricket has confirmed Chester-le-EATS will take place on Saturday, October 5th and Sunday, October...