THE ANGEL of the North, the Penshaw monument, horses racing in slow motion across Bamburgh beach and the might of High Force plunging 21 metres into the River Tees - the region's first television commercial is not short of great images.

During the next month, this advert will be seen by millions of people. At least 20 million viewers will see it five times or more.

One NorthEast, the regional development agency, has lavished £1m on the 60-second invitation to visit this region. It believes a successful TV campaign will attract thousands of families to holiday here.

In 2002, Castle Howard, in North Yorkshire, was one of the stars of Only In Britain, a £7m TV ad campaign aimed at foreign visitors.

That campaign attracted an extra million visits to the UK in 2002 and generated more than half a billion pounds for the British economy. One NorthEast is hoping to repeat that kind of success nine months into its Regional Image strategy.

Stacy Hall, director of communications at One NorthEast, said: "This television campaign is an important step forward in communicating the many great attractions of the North-East to a wide audience who, in many cases will have limited understanding of our region and all it has to offer."

Over the past five years, the marketing of tourism has emerged as big business with the Celtic nations of Great Britain leading the way with increasingly slick screen productions.

The three-year Irish Island of Memories campaign included nine separate small screen ads emphasising the people, places and culture.

It proved so successful - helping to push visitor numbers past the 8m mark for last year - that a new campaign was launched in December entitled Discover Your Very Own Ireland. Backed with a massive budget of £43m, it is expected to reach 200m viewers around the globe.

Hot on the heels of the Irish came Visit Scotland's Live It campaign, launched in Spring 2002.

Packed with rugged scenery, stylish cities, romantic imagery and haunting music, the campaign was a concerted attempt to move away from Scotland's traditional images of tartan and whisky and persuade visitors to stay longer.

More recently, the Welsh have got in on the act. In 2005, the Welsh Tourist Board launched its Big Country campaign, releasing its fourth TV advert in the series last month.

The £3m television campaign is aimed mainly at English families - targeting the North-West, Midlands and London in particular - and highlights what makes Wales original and different.

Mike Greenow, of the Welsh Tourist Board, said; "It's a developing campaign, which changes slightly over the years.

"It is more difficult to assess the success of a television campaign compared to, for example, our magazine campaign, which produced 400,000 replies.

"But our TV adverts are now creeping up to 20 per cent recognition which is very, very good. It is about producing an increased awareness of Wales."

Last night's North-East ad - shown during the Emmerdale break - reached 7.4 million viewers.

Chris Davy, owner of the Rose and Crown in Romaldkirk, Teesdale, who attended the launch at the Sage, Gateshead yesterday, said: "I thought the advert was super.

"It is good to see the regional development agency putting some serious money into promoting the region, which it desperately needs. I feel the word passion has certainly stuck - it is used by so many people and organisations now."

Rachel Scott, marketing manager of the Bowes Museum, in Barnard Castle, said: "The commercial is of exceptional quality."

The advert's director, Adrian Moat, is part of the team at RSA Films, a company formed by South Shields-born director Ridley Scott.

Adrian has worked all over the world on commercials for companies including Nissan, BMW, Motorola, Seiko and San Miguel.

He said: "Having the opportunity to work on an advert for my home region and to influence the way in which people view this amazing place has been an extremely challenging yet exciting and very gratifying experience for me.

"I very much hope that those who love and know it well will feel deeply proud of their region when they see the advert and that those who have yet to discover the North-East feel compelled to visit.