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

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Format: 29-12-2023

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Format: 30-12-2023

Industry

Wave of success for Seaham Food Festival

5 Aug 2024

Thousands took a trip to the seaside to enjoy some fun, sun, and the return of one of the region’s biggest food festivals. People flocked to Seaham Food Festival this weekend for two days of food, family entertainment, and cooking demonstrations from some of the nation’s favourite chefs. The...

Industry

Public Art Installation unveiled at Auckland Tower

1 Aug 2024

A major outdoor art installation, inspired by England’s oldest stained-glass windows, has been unveiled on the exterior of Auckland Tower in Bishop Auckland. Following a nationwide and rigorous selection process, the installation has been created by Bristol-based artist and...

Visit County Durham

New media centre

31 Jul 2024

Visit County Durham's new online media centre is now live. Inside the media centre you'll find key photography and videography featuring the county's many amazing attractions, accommodation, food and drink experiences, things to do and more! All these assets can be used in your own promotional...

Industry

Tourism awards

31 Jul 2024

If you run a tourism, hospitality or leisure business - make sure you're in the running for the Destination North East England Tourism Awards! These prestigious awards celebrate everything from the best pubs and bars in the area to the most accessible, inclusive or sustainable places to visit. The...

Industry

Disability confident

31 Jul 2024

A new Disability Confident guide has been published by the Department for Work and Pensions, to help business managers recruit, retain and foster the progression of disabled people in the workplace. Find out how to get the most from the Disability Confident scheme, boost disability employment and...

Industry

North East England leads the way with Interactive 3D virtual tours &inclusivity training

29 Jul 2024

Visitors heading to some of the region’s top tourist spots can now feel safe, welcomed and included before they even arrive thanks to groundbreaking, interactive 3D photography and pioneering inclusivity training designed to break down barriers to access for everyone. Destination North East...

Visit County Durham

Visit County Durham welcome familiarisation trip

29 Jul 2024

Earlier this month Visit County Durham partnered with Group Leisure and Travel Magazine on a familiarisation visit to the county. The group was made up of 12 group travel organisers and tour operators who spent two nights in Durham experiencing some of the best it has to offer. They enjoyed a...

Industry

Peace Doves artwork arrives in Durham Cathedral

26 Jul 2024

Visitors to Durham Cathedral this summer can experience a brand new immersive artwork as a canopy of paper doves is suspended in the cathedral's Nave. Peace Doves, a mass-participation artwork by Peter Walker, has taken centre stage in the Nave of the cathedral today (Friday 26 July). The...

Industry

Attractions survey results

24 Jul 2024

VisitEngland has published its 2023 Annual Survey of Visits to Visitor Attractions showing that while visits to attractions across England continued to recover last year, they were still significantly down on pre-pandemic levels. Overall visits to attractions in England were up 11% in 2023 compared...

Industry

How's business

24 Jul 2024

Please spare 10 minutes of your time to complete our latest How's Business survey. The results are important for us to see what is hapenning across the visitor economy and to analyse where there are themes and issues. the results of the survey help inform our future activity and to see how we can...

Industry

Detailed access guides

24 Jul 2024

Today's travellers want detailed and factual descriptions of venue accessibility, in the form of an Accessibility Guide, to empower them to make personal choices. To support this, VisitEngland is providing discounts to tourism businesses to help them provide quality-assured accessibility...

Visit County Durham

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

24 Jul 2024

I am delighted to say that despite quite a few recent rainy days the sun has finally made an appearance and it is beginning to feel like summer. The warmer months are incredibly important to the tourism industry, with amazing places to stay and so much to see and do in Durham let's hope there...

Visit County Durham

North East tourism campaign is a hit stateside

23 Jul 2024

The North East’s incredible icons, exciting adventures and distinctive food and drink have been showcased in the US as part of a campaign in partnership with national tourism agency VisitBritain, aimed at growing inbound visits to the region.

Industry

Kynren claims TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards 2024

23 Jul 2024

Kynren – An Epic Tale of England has been recognised in Tripadvisor’s® Travelers’ Choice® Awards for 2024. The 1,000-strong volunteer cast and crew received news of the accolade following a successful preview night ahead of the summer season of shows, which starts on Saturday...

Visit County Durham

Durham showcased at Great Yorkshire Show

19 Jul 2024

Durham moved south, very briefly, last week as members of the Visit County Durham team headed to the Great Yorkshire Show, also flying the flag for Durham were partners including Kynren, The Auckland Project, Raby Estates, The Weardale Railway and Radisson Blu. The annual four-day event is a...