FOREIGN visitors to the North-East spent more than £200m last year, a survey has revealed.

In all, 429,000 people from abroad visited the North-East for a holiday in 2009, spending £203m, according to Visit Britain, the official body which promotes the UK as a tourist destination.

The figures demonstrate the importance of foreign holidaymakers to the region’s economy at a time when funding for tourism advertising has been cut.

Visit Britain said visitors were attracted by the North- East’s “exuberant pub and club scene”, along with its football and “spectacular coastline”.

They were quizzed by the organisation on what they did during their stay with 67 per cent – the highest proportion of anywhere in England – saying they went to the pub during their holiday.

Thirty nine per cent of visitors said they went to a nightclub, three times the national average.

And a total of 17 per cent also took in a football match – again the highest proportion of any area and more than five times the national average.

Meanwhile, more than one million foreign holidaymakers visited Yorkshire last year, spending £461m – lured by its “grand countryside and cosy pubs”.

The report said 55 per cent of its visitors headed to rural areas, the highest proportion anywhere in England, Scotland and Wales.

Respective regional development agencies One North East and Yorkshire Forward have seen funding for tourism advertising campaigns cut by the Government and are unable to make any financial commitments beyond the end of March.

Investment in tourism, including marketing and promotional activity and funding for tourism partnerships, was reduced in the North-East by £2.5m this year.

Geoff Hodgson, chairman of the North-East Tourism Advisory Board, said: “In line with other public sector organisations, One North East is subject to a marketing freeze, which has severely restricted the promotional activity the agency can do, both internationally and domestically.

“International visitors are of huge significance to the region’s tourism economy, which is worth nearly £4bn overall to the regional economy.”