DEVELOPMENT chiefs hope to attract millions more tourists to the region and to encourage them to spend more.

Regional development agency One NorthEast has produced a strategy that it hopes will draw an extra 1.3 million UK visitors and an extra 700,000 visitors from overseas each year.

It also hopes to see the average mount spent for a trip to the region rise from £172 to £180, for British tourists, and from £426 to £500 for overseas visitors.

The strategy also aims to increase visits throughout the year rather than just at peak times, and to increase employment in tourism, which at present provides 47,000 direct jobs and supports a further 52,000.

It is also intended to promote the region through national and international marketing and promoting investment.

The strategy will also look at so-called "magnet" attractions such as Beamish, near Stanley, County Durham, and Durham Castle which already attract a huge number of visitors.

One NorthEast says it will increase its funding of tourism to £20m over the next three years.

Beamish Museum director Miriam Harte said: "To be identified as a magnet attraction is great testament to the work that has gone into developing Beamish as a major attraction for the North-East.

"For the region's tourism industry to continue to grow, it is vital, as the strategy has identified, that we take advantage of existing strengths by improving what we already have and building upon and improving the quality of a whole range of facilities and attractions.''