Visit County Durham
Visit County Durham (VCD) is the destination management organisation for County Durham and one of a portfolio of nationally supported, strategic, and high-performing accredited Local Visitor Economy Partnerships. We provide strong local leadership and governance, and are committed to the promotion, management, and development of County Durham as a great place to live, work, visit and do business.
Visit County Durham works in partnership locally, regionally, and nationally on shared priorities and targets. Our mission is to support and grow the visitor economy through robust destination management, strong stakeholder relationships and clear planning.
Our vision is to create the conditions for our residents, businesses, and the environment to benefit from sustainable growth in our visitor economy. By supporting and marketing our distinctive heritage, landscapes, culture and warm welcome, we will grow both day and overnight visits and make County Durham a compelling, global destination for tourism, culture, and business.
Destination performance
20.15m
(Visitors Annually)
6.5m
(75 Attractions)
8%
(Overnight Stays)
13,178
(Jobs Within the Industry)
£1.23bn
(Annual Income)
Latest news
New board members appointed to drive forward Beamish Museum’s next chapter
21 Mar 2025
Beamish, The Living Museum of the North has announced the latest appointments to its Board of Trustees, who will play a key role in guiding the award-winning museum into its next chapter of success, innovation and relevance. Ryan Baldry, Dr Nikita Chiu, Louise Melville, Peter Morland, and Fletcher Sowerby have joined the museum’s Board, bringing […]
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Double awards delight for Kynren at the 2025 North East England Tourism Awards
21 Mar 2025
Epic outdoor spectacular Kynren was the big winner at the 2025 North East England Tourism Awards picking up two new awards for Volunteer of the Year, for the crew and team behind the event, and Tourism Festival or Event of the Year. The new awards were introduced this year to showcase even more of the […]
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Durham Brass Festival announces 2025 line-up
19 Mar 2025
One of the region’s best-loved cultural events returns this year with a headline performance by Bill Ryder-Jones. Organised by Durham County Council and supported by Arts Council England, Durham Brass Festival won ‘Performance of the Year’ at the 2024 North East Culture Awards for Public Service Broadcasting featuring NASUWT Riverside Band and Felling Male Voice […]
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Celebrate Difference
Celebrate Difference LTD is a Social Enterprise based in Consett, whose vision is to improve social equality for those with ADHD and other neurodiverse conditions. Our team is mainly Neurodivergent, either diagnosed or self-identify as living with ADHD, Autism, Dyspraxia, DCD, and many other co-conditions. Through lived experience, we absolutely resonate with our clients and stakeholders and […]
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Purchasing for Business
At Purchasing for Business we’re dedicated to providing great purchasing services to any type of business, big or small and new and old. Our strong buying power, excellent choice of suppliers, and great benefits can help you save money and time on buying a wide range of products and services, whilst increasing profits.
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The Fairy Wedmother
Aimed at wedding venues, The Fairy Wedmother offers training and development to wedding co-ordinators to increase your skills in enquiry conversion, getting more enquiries, increased and additional revenue along with keeping up with wedding trends. We provide 1-1 or group training as a one off or with ongoing support. Secret Wedmother can test your systems […]
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WL Distillery
WL Distillery is a North East based Gin Distillery, combining our passion for gin and the great outdoors by creating authentic tasting gins made with specially selected ingredients. Our recently released First Edition Gin inspired by our distillers Grandads Garden has been crafted to take you on a taste journey of the North East. Combining […]
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Visit County Durham latest
Exciting new Story launched for Durham
An exciting new approach to promoting the county was unveiled yesterday (18 March), with over 80 stakeholders attending the launch of the ‘Durham story’. The event, hosted by Durham County Council and Durham University at Gala Durham, was the culmination of a 12-month project which has seen engagement with hundreds of stakeholders form across the […]
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New collaboration seeks to attract French visitors to North East England
Newcastle Airport and destination development partnership, Destination North East England have collaborated with Expedia Group on a new campaign targeting visitors from France. Capitalising on the new easyJet route between Paris and Newcastle, the digital campaign aims to drive flight bookings, and overnight stays by highlighting the unique experiences visitors can take advantage of when […]
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VCD Blog - Progress and pace continues as we look forward with optimism
As 2025 is now in full swing it feels great to be looking ahead with excitement and optimism.
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Durham and Tees Valley partnership showcases shared rail heritage
Following the exciting announcement this week of the opening event of the S&DR200 international festival, the 200th anniversary of the journey that changed the world is being harnessed by Visit County Durham and Visit Tees Valley for an exciting new partnership. The festival is providing the destination management organisations with a hook to promote their shared […]
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