Next Stop Durham campaign positions county as a leading destination for group travel 

Visit County Durham is calling on the travel trade to make Durham their next stop, as its high-profile ‘Next Stop, Durham’ campaign, which capitalises on the county’s location on the famous tourist trail between London, York and Edinburgh, continues to build momentum and drive demand for the destination.
The county’s Destination Management Organisation and Durham County Council’s tourism service is running the campaign, not only inspiring consumers but also creating a timely opportunity for the travel trade to capitalise on growing interest in new and authentic UK destinations.
Durham offers a strong proposition for groups, combining iconic attractions, exciting experiences, quality accommodation, and a warm welcome for coach travel, and has benefited from significant investment in its group friendly offer in recent years, and with more to come, including the UK’s first live-action show park – Kynren: The Storied Lands, which opens this summer.

The destination is particularly well equipped for group travel, offering excellent coach access, convenient distances between attractions, and a wide range of group-friendly accommodation, resulting in it being one of the only counties in England to hold three Coach Friendly Accreditations from the Confederation of Passenger Transport.

Building on the success of last year’s activity, which reached over 18 million people and contributed an estimated £165m in visitor spend, the campaign is helping to raise the profile of the county among target audiences, supporting travel trade to convert growing interest into bookings.

The campaign also taps into a key opportunity for the group travel market. Many visitors already pass through the county en route to destinations such as York, Edinburgh and the Lake District. ‘Next Stop, Durham’ encourages operators to build the county into itineraries as an exciting new addition.
Duncan Peake, Chair of Visit County Durham and Chief Executive of Raby Estates, said: “We’re proud to be part of this campaign, which is shining a spotlight on everything County Durham has to offer. For the group travel market, the county provides an exceptional mix of attractions, heritage and hospitality, making it easy to create engaging and varied itineraries.”

Cllr Karen Allison, Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Tourism, Regeneration and High Street at Durham County Council, said: “County Durham is ideally suited to group travel, with high-quality attractions, great accessibility and a warm welcome. This campaign is about ensuring the travel trade recognises the strength of the destination and choose to include it in their programmes.”

The ‘Next Stop, Durham’ campaign is being delivered through national media partnerships, digital marketing and high-impact advertising, alongside collaboration with leading visitor economy partners.
Travel trade can find inspirational itineraries, bookable products and planning support on the dedicated Discover Durham website, as well as a new travel trade brochure which launched last month.

Find out more at DiscoverDurham.co.uk