In December 2022, NGI was awarded £2.25 million from government to lead a tourism pilot scheme on behalf of the North East region. In the De Bois Review of DMOs in 2021, NGI was the recommended candidate to the pilot scheme which aims to address fragmentation and transform the DMO landscape on a regional level.  

Testament to NGI’s approach to partnership we now deliver for the whole region, supporting the growth of the visitor economy across seven local authority areas.  

• This pilot will be a potential blueprint for the rest of England, delivering local economic growth through the visitor economy across all seven local authorities.

• This pilot will disseminate best practice and learning focused on visitor economy skills, business events, product development, accessibility, sustainability and promoting inward investment.

• It will enable the North East to develop relationships with DCMS, the GREAT campaign, VisitBritain and VisitEngland supporting further funding opportunities and the use of soft power.

NGI’s selection for this pilot is testament to the growing reputation of the organisation as a leading DMO nationally and its approach to partnership working, and means NGI liaises regularly with government to feed in the opportunities and challenges within the North East’s visitor economy with the aim of doubling the value of the industry in 10 years.

This pilot is an outcome of the UK Government’s response to the independent review of Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) by Nick de Bois.  

NGI led first Inter-Ministerial Government Visitor Economy design sprint (which has been nominated for a cross-government innovation award) to develop a new vision for the regional visitor economy, recognising the fundamental changes to supply and demand, recognising that in the North East, recovering to 2019 levels will not achieve the government’s ambitions of Levelling Up. And we have continued to assist the team in delivering the Sprint’s recommendations which saw the DDP come intro fruition.