North East England will welcome more than 30 tour operators later this month to showcase the huge range of experiences, attractions and accommodation across the region. Destination North East England, in partnership with UKinbound, will host leading tour operators from across the leisure, corporate and student sectors, representing markets such as the US, Canada and Germany as part of its Discover Programme.

The group will arrive in the region on Sunday April 28th for a three-day whistle-stop tour. Delegates, who are all members of UKinbound, include Virgin Experience Days, Cashel Travel Ltd, Tour Partner Group and Angela Shanley Associates. As well as the chance to visit some of the North East's key visitor attractions there will also be an opportunity for tourism and hospitality businesses to meet one-to-one with the buyers at a Showcase event to be held at St James' Park.

The Discover programme aims to connect buyers and suppliers in destinations that are less familiar to enable them to understand more about the area and meet experience providers, accommodation providers, tour guides and ground transportation companies to learn about their products and services.

The group will head out on a tour of the region with visits to The Auckland Project; Beamish; Hadrian's Wall; Newcastle's Victoria Tunnel and St James' Park. The Showcase event, being held on Tues April 30th, will see almost 400 dedicated face-to-face appointments take place between the buyers and suppliers.

Joss Croft OBE, CEO of UKinbound says: “We are delighted to be working with Destination North East England to showcase this wonderful region to a group of our leading UK buyer members, who specialise in curating holidays to the UK for international visitors. International visitors are incredibly valuable to the North East, spending £400 million in the region in 2019, and travel trade events such as this will further aid the growth of this sector, supporting jobs and businesses across the region.”