Industry News

Visit County Durham has renewed its partnership with Durham Cricket as international top-flight cricket heads to Chester-le-Street’s Riverside ground.

The destination management organisation has been working in partnership with Durham Cricket since 2020 to promote Durham to cricket fans, encouraging spectators to extend their visit, or return for a longer break.

And with an action-packed programme of domestic and international cricket set to take place this year, it is the perfect opportunity to encourage visitors to explore more of the county.

Among the highlights of the season will be two international cricket matches, with England Women taking on New Zealand on 26 June, whilst England men take on Australia in a One Day International on 24 September.

By working together, Visit County Durham and Durham Cricket can promote these important matches, and encourage cricket fans to extend their stay and further boost Durham’s visitor economy.

Michelle Gorman, managing director of Visit County Durham, said: “We work closely with Durham Cricket and our other strategic partners to grow Durham’s visitor economy. This partnership strengthens that relationship further, allowing us to showcase Durham’s visitor offer to a highly engaged audience of cricket fans from around the world.”

David Jackson, marketing director at Durham Cricket, said: “Durham Cricket is proud to be part of an amazing county with so much to offer residents and visitors. Our Seat Unique Riverside ground has Beamish Museum, one of the region’s leading attractions, on its doorstep and, in less than an hour, you can be in the heart of the Durham Dales or breathing in the sea air on the Durham Coast. We are keen to share our passion for our home county with all our visitors and are delighted to be working alongside Visit County Durham to raise its profile within the cricketing community. We are also thrilled to be bringing women's professional cricket to Chester le Street from 2025,   This is a huge opportunity to develop the game across the region and it will also bring a huge economic boost to the club and the County. The financial investment will be considerable both on and off the pitch and is set to create over 30 new jobs and bring new commercial opportunities, we can't wait to see this develop.”