NewcastleGateshead

What NewcastleGateshead does

NewcastleGateshead is a destination marketing organization (DMO) that operates newcastlegateshead.com as the official tourist information portal for the NewcastleGateshead region in North East England. The organization is jointly backed by Newcastle City Council and Gateshead Council and trades under the legal name NewcastleGateshead Initiative; it serves two principal audiences — leisure visitors to the region (primary) and the local businesses, attractions, restaurants, and accommodation providers that are listed on its directory (secondary). Its core offering is a free, visitor-facing digital platform combining a searchable Business Directory, a What's On Events calendar with category and date filtering, a Trip Planner itinerary builder, an Experiences booking module (food and drink tours, guided tours, family and cultural experiences), curated Explore area guides, and an editorial blog supported by an email newsletter ("Be the First to Know") and active social channels on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.

The platform is built on DestinationCore, a third-party destination CMS, and integrates dedicated travel information sections for rail partners LNER, Lumo, and Northern Trains under its Plan Your Visit module. The site is documented as compliant with WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards and offers an Accessibility Mode toggle. Functionally, the organization aggregates and curates regional tourism content and distributes it through owned digital channels rather than operating physical storefronts or direct sales teams; there is no disclosed pricing for visitors, no disclosed membership or listing fees, and no published revenue model in the source material. Its operating scope covers Newcastle, Gateshead, Northumberland, the Tyne coast (Tynemouth, Whitley Bay), and the surrounding countryside including Hadrian's Wall, with between 11 and 50 staff based at Neville Hall, Westgate Road, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Name

NewcastleGateshead

Legal name

NewcastleGateshead Initiative

Website

https://newcastlegateshead.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

NewcastleGateshead Initiative is the council-backed official destination marketing organization for Newcastle, Gateshead, and North East England, operating a free tourism portal with a business directory, event listings, trip planner, and curated experiences for visitors and listed local businesses.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Destination Marketing Services

NAICS

Tour Operators (56152)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Tours, Activities & Experiences Booking Platforms (BPAMAIAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Local Tours, Activities & Attractions Metasearch (THALAEAI)

Keywords

• Destination marketing services
• Tourism information platform
• Visitor guide directory
• Travel planning tools
• Local business listings

Headquarters

HQ city

Newcastle Upon Tyne

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations, Others

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

NewcastleGateshead operates an official digital destination marketing and visitor information platform for the NewcastleGateshead region in North East England. The platform provides a searchable business directory of local attractions, restaurants, shops, and accommodation, event listings through a What's On calendar, an itinerary-building Trip Planner, bookable Experiences (food tours, guided tours, cultural activities), area guides under Explore, and Plan Your Visit travel resources.

Product overview

NewcastleGateshead operates a unified destination marketing and visitor services platform that combines a business directory, event discovery system, trip planning tools, and editorial content. The core offering consists of the Business Directory (featuring attractions, restaurants, shops, and accommodations), What's On Events platform (with searchable event listings and calendar filtering), Trip Planner (for itinerary building), Experiences booking section, and Explore area guides. The site also provides practical visitor resources including accessibility features, travel planning tools, and a blog with local recommendations. The platform is powered by DestinationCore and serves as the official tourism guide for the NewcastleGateshead region in the North East of England.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Trip Planner Interactive itinerary-building tool that lets visitors plan and customise a trip to NewcastleGateshead by selecting categories and saving attractions, experiences, and events into a personalised itinerary.
• Business Directory A searchable directory of local businesses across categories including attractions, restaurants, shops, accommodation, nightlife, and experiences in NewcastleGateshead, with category-based filtering.
• What's On Events Event discovery platform listing festivals, live music, theatre, comedy, foodie events, exhibitions, family activities, and more, with search and filtering by category, date range, and location.
• Experiences Curated, bookable experience offerings for visitors including food and drink tours, guided tours, family-friendly activities, active and outdoor adventures, cultural and historical experiences, and film and TV-themed experiences.
• Explore (Area Guides) Curated area guides covering Newcastle city centre, Quayside, Ouseburn, Jesmond, Gateshead, Tynemouth, Hadrian's Wall, the coastline, and the countryside, with recommendations for visitors.
• Plan Your Visit Travel planning resources for visitors including getting here by train (LNER, Lumo, Northern Trains), accessibility information, maps, getting-around guidance, FAQs, and a Newcastle United away fans guide.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• DestinationCorecoreTechnology or IntegrationDestinationCore powers the NewcastleGateshead official tourism website (newcastlegateshead.com). The platform technology enables business directory listings, event management, trip planning tools, and content management for the destination marketing organization.
• Newcastle City CouncilcoreOthersNewcastle City Council is one of the founding partners of NewcastleGateshead Initiative. The organization is jointly supported by Newcastle City Council and Gateshead Council.
• Gateshead CouncilcoreOthersGateshead Council is one of the founding partners of NewcastleGateshead Initiative. The organization is jointly supported by Newcastle City Council and Gateshead Council.
• Transport Partners (LNER, Lumo, Northern Trains)supportingGTM or Marketing PartnerThe platform includes dedicated travel information sections for visiting NewcastleGateshead via LNER, Lumo, and Northern Trains. These partnerships support visitor access and promote sustainable travel options to the region.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• VisitEngland: The national tourist board for England. Functions as the umbrella body that regional DMOs such as NewcastleGateshead work under for cooperative marketing, data, and policy alignment.
• VisitBritain: The British Tourist Authority — the national tourism agency for Great Britain. Operates as a broader incumbent that NewcastleGateshead feeds into and competes against for inbound visitor attention and cooperative marketing budget.

Direct peers

• Visit York: York's official tourism organization. A single-city heritage-focused DMO of broadly similar scale to NewcastleGateshead, offering directory, events, and itinerary tools — useful as a like-for-like structural comparable.
• VisitBrighton: Brighton & Hove's official tourism platform. Smaller regional DMO with directory, events, and trip-planning features — closely comparable in operating scope and digital offering to NewcastleGateshead.
• London & Partners: Mayoral-led growth and destination agency for London, running visitlondon.com. Comparable as a city-region DMO with a multi-feature visitor platform, though materially larger in scale and global reach.
• Marketing Manchester: Manchester's destination management and marketing agency. Runs a destination platform promoting a major UK city-region with business directory, events, and tourism content — the closest urban-regional peer in structure and scale to NewcastleGateshead.
• VisitScotland: Scotland's national tourism agency, operated as a Non-Departmental Public Body with government backing. Highly comparable to NewcastleGateshead as a regional destination marketing organization running an official tourism website with directory, events, and trip-planning features.
• Visit Wales: The Welsh Government's tourism marketing arm operating visitwales.com. A near-analogous regional DMO with council/government backing, a business directory, events listings, and curated experiences — directly comparable in mission and structure to NewcastleGateshead.
• Visit Bath: The official tourism site for Bath, operated as a regional DMO. Comparable as a single-city/region destination platform with business directory, events listings, and curated experiences targeting leisure and cultural visitors.

Others

• Simpleview: A leading CRM, CMS, and digital platform provider specifically built for destination marketing organizations. Relevant as the enabling technology layer (analogous to NewcastleGateshead's relationship with DestinationCore) and as a competitive alternative in DMO platform procurement.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/altweet_pet
• Facebookfacebook.com/NewcastleGateshead
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/newcastlegateshead-initiative
• Instagraminstagram.com/mykindoftoon
• TikToktiktok.com/@newcastlegateshead

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NewcastleGateshead