‘Cruise North East England’ partnership sets sail to promote local tourism and bolster economic growth

A new business-to-business destination marketing partnership between Port of Tyne, Newcastle International Airport and NewcastleGateshead Initiative (NGI) has been launched to collaboratively promote the North East region to cruise itinerary planners.

Working with local visitor attractions and tourism businesses including Beamish, Alnwick Castle and Arbeia Roman Fort, Cruise North East England will provide cruise operators with unique insights into “inspirational, one-of-a-kind experiences” in which passengers can only partake on a trip to the North East.

The partner organisations hope that by strengthening relationships between cruise operators and the North East, Cruise North East England can bolster local and regional economic growth, and work to future-proof the tourism industry in the region.

Prior to 2020, during which the cruise industry was forced to shut-down, Port of Tyne welcomed around 60 cruise calls and an average of 700,000 passengers through its International Passenger Terminal at the recently extended Northumbrian Quay, North Shields.

Following the phased reopening of national and international cruise after the pandemic, the Port of Tyne has seen 25 cruise calls in 2021, with a return to numbers close to previous years expected into 2022 and beyond.

Kate O’Hara, commercial director at the Port of Tyne commented: “We are delighted to be collaborating with our partners Newcastle International Airport and NewcastleGateshead Initiative in a joint approach to promote cruise in the region. The North East has so many unique locations to offer with two world heritage sites right on our doorstep.”

Kate Hall, marketing and communications manager at Newcastle International Airport added: “The North East region has so much to offer inbound tourists. The Visit North East England brand was developed in 2018 to market our fantastic region in overseas markets, to support the work of the North East’s destination management organisations and grow the number of international tourists visiting the region.

“It has been a pleasure to work with the Port of Tyne and NewcastleGateshead Initiative on this strategically important project, which aligns closely with Visit North East England’s aims.

“We were delighted to be able to provide our website as a platform to host the Cruise North East content and we look forward to working with more of the region’s suppliers as we grow the offering available over the coming months and years.”