Hadrian's Wall set to attract 50,000 new visits

And both the campaign and the museum display - which featured the Wall and objects from the monument - are set to result in a visitor boom next year as scenes of the dramatic and open landscape of the world heritage site whetted the appetite of travellers in the crowded capital.

People surveyed were presented with a list of eight tourist attractions in the North East and 89% said they had heard of Hadrian's Wall. Just over 80% of people said they were aware of the Angel of the North, while almost 70% stated they had heard of Gateshead Millennium Bridge and Durham Cathedral.

The other attractions included in the list were Lindisfarne, Bamburgh Castle, Alnwick Garden and Kielder Forest. Hadrian's Wall Heritage Ltd staged its biggest marketing campaign this summer to coincide with the British Museum exhibition.

At the core of the campaign were 19 200sq ft billboards at 15 tube stations, showing Hexham photographer Roger Clegg's atmospheric images of the Wall and the surrounding countryside. Another of Roger's Wall photographs was turned into a 30ft high image on the steps of the British Museum.

Independent research organisation Emotional Logic surveyed Londoners before and after the campaign and found that there was an 8% increase in the number of people who were either thinking about or had already booked a visit to Hadrian's Wall Country.

And during the course of the exhibition, 17,500 people visited the Hadrian's Wall Heritage Ltd website, and will be targeted with special travel offers in the spring.

The researchers estimated that the campaign and exhibition are likely to bring an extra 46,000 people to the area in the next year, resulting in £3m of additional visitor spending.

Linda Tuttiett, chief executive of Hadrian's Wall Heritage Ltd, said: "We were determined to make the most of the fantastic opportunity presented by the Hadrian exhibition.

This research shows that the campaign has been a success in generating additional interest in Hadrian's Wall Country among people living or working in London."

Video interviews were also recorded with Tube travellers.

Linda said: "We wanted to get over the message about the inspiring landscape Hadrian's Wall Country offers.

"What came out of the interviews were comments such as it was the most beautiful part of the country people had seen and the heritage site they most wanted to visit.

"People were also surprised at the information on posters about the sheer volume of museums on the Wall and many other things they could do. People were saying 'that is where I want to be'."

Sean Howarth, of Haltwhistle tourism information centre, most of whose business in centred around the Wall, said: "We have had lots of over-the-counter comments from people about having seen the exhibition and campaign and that is what had prompted them to come up for a visit to see the real thing."

View a Gallery of Roger Clegg's Hadrian's Wall images