RURAL tourism is thriving in north-east England, reveals a new report commissioned by Northumberland National Park Authority.

Tourism figures for 2015 show that visitors are spending more and staying longer in the Park, contributing £76.44m to the rural economy and supporting 1,128 jobs.

This performance excels the target set by the National Park Authority to grow tourism revenue from visitors to £75.8m in 2015.

Park authority chairman Glen Sanderson said: "We very much want visitors to first and foremost enjoy it but also to make a positive contribution to the economy of the area.

"The economic target set for the year was to increase the value of tourism from visitors to £75.8m and we are delighted to have surpassed it so substantially.

Councillor Sanderson said beating the target was great news for the wider region.

"Growth in tourism is a key means by which the North East can close the economic performance gap with the rest of the UK.

"The report shows that during the last five years Northumberland National Park's tourism economy has grown faster in relative terms than the UK economy."

A national landscape discovery centre will be launched in the Park next year. Known as the Sill, it is a £14.8m investment, including £7.8m from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Sill is an all-weather facility which will act as a gateway for visitors to explore the wider county and other protected landscapes.

It aims to will attract over 100,000 visitors per year and deliver substantial economic benefits by contributing an estimated £2.5m per annum to the north-east region economy.

The project will give significant support to the rural economy by providing new employment opportunities and opportunities for skills development and training.

The National Park tourism study is an annual report used by National Parks across the country to quantify the local economic impact of tourism from both staying and day visitors.

It analyses a variety of factors including visitor attraction numbers, tourist accommodation, events attendance and occupancy levels throughout the year.

The tourism report shows that Northumberland National Park currently attracts 1.76m visitors to the area per year, of which 1.41m are day visitors and 350,000 stay overnight.