North East England set to take on the world

North East England is poised to achieve global recognition after being nominated for two awards at the international tourism industry’s most prestigious event - the World Travel Awards.

For the second year in a row the Experience North East England television advert has been nominated for the title of “World’s Leading Travel Television Commercial”.

The TV ad will be judged alongside 13 other promoting countries and airlines including: Emirates; Maldives; Virgin Atlantic Airways; Sandals Resorts International and Singapore Airlines.

Aired on Boxing Day 2006 the commercial created significant interest in North East England with more than 100 million people having the chance to view throughout January, February, March and May.

A total of 18,000 potential visitors responded to the interactive Red button on Sky and ITV with 80% of those opting-in for further information.

And in May the visitnortheastengland.com website saw a record number of visitors with 60,000 new visitors logging on.

The Regional Image campaign is also in the running for the “World’s Leading Destination Marketing campaign”.

The region is up against marketing campaigns for destinations from across the world including Tourism Queensland, Australia; NYCvisit.com, New York; Kuala Lumpur and Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority.

North East England has won the title of “World’s Leading Regional Marketing Campaign” for the last two years at the World Travel Awards. Following this success the region was chosen to host the first-ever World Travel Awards Europe and Green Awards in October this year.

The event attracted some of the world’s top travel executives to a gala ceremony held at Newcastle Mariott Hotel Gosforth Park.

The nominations are the latest achievement for the region this year and follows praise from influential travel guide, Lonely Planet Bluelist which named North East England one of the top 30 must-see destinations in the world.

Featured in the guide’s Go List North East England was described as “the most exciting, beautiful and friendly region in the whole of England”.

Tania Robinson, Head of Marketing at One NorthEast said: “We are delighted to be nominated once again in these most prestigious of awards as each year the competition is getting stronger and stronger.

“The TV advert has been essential in helping to raise the awareness of North East England as a fantastic travel destination.

“Winning the award for ‘World’s Leading Regional Marketing Campaign’ for two years in a row and playing host to World Travel Awards Europe and CEO Forum in October provided a significant boost for North East England and helped to place us firmly on the world map.

“The marketing of the region as an exceptional place to visit continues to go from strength to strength and it’s great for the region that the North East is achieving such valuable international recognition.”

Voting is currently underway via the World Travel Awards website Worldtravelawards.com and the announcement of the winners will take place at the World Travel Awards World Final gala ceremony in the Turks & Caicos islands in the Caribbean on December 12th 2007.