The contribution of the tourism sector to the County Durham economy has topped £1bn for the first time.
New figures show that 17.9m people visited the county last year, spending £1.04bn. The visitor numbers are more than 25% up on the year but also higher than pre-pandemic numbers.
The increase in tourism numbers has also been reflected in a growing number of people employed in tourism, which went from just over 10,000 in 2021 to 11,724 last year.
