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
VisitEngland announces venue and date of Awards for Excellence 2025
14 Mar 2025
VisitEngland has announced that this year’s VisitEngland Awards for Excellence will be held at the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange on 4 June. The 35th national awards will see finalists from 21 regional competitions recognised as Gold, Silver and Bronze winners across 16 core categories. Award categories range from the ‘Experience of the Year’ to the ‘Taste of England Award’ […]
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Kynren Acquires Flambards Victorian Village for Immersive Experience at The Storied Lands
13 Mar 2025
Kynren – The Storied Lands, the UK’s first live-action historical theme park, is thrilled to announce the acquisition of the renowned Flambards Victorian Village, ensuring that this extra-ordinary collection remains together and will be brought to life in a spectacular new show at the attraction opening in 2026. The Victorian Village, a much-loved heritage exhibit […]
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Work to restore historic Durham footpaths complete
13 Mar 2025
Work to restore an historic route past Durham Cathedral has been completed. Durham County Council has been carrying out extensive refurbishment on North and South Bailey, also known as The Bailey, in Durham City. The historic streets the name of which derives from being the outer bailey of Durham Castle, have been restored through […]
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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
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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VCD Blog - Working towards a more sustainable future
As world leaders recently gathered in Baku for Cop29 it is a reminder of the ever-present threat of climate change and the need for us all to take action. According to the World Economic Forum a recent study puts the tourism industry's impact at 8% of global carbon emissions.
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