TWO business leaders have teamed up to inject £25 million into tourist attractions.

Simon Hume-Kendall, owner of the Hop Farm Country Park at Beltring, near Paddock Wood, and Peter Bull, founder of Park Holidays UK and Yesterday’s World in Sussex, have formed a new company to promote their visitor destinations.

Kent and Sussex Attractions was launched in April with the purchase of Bewl Water, and now the Hop Farm has been added to the business.

Both directors hold a 50 per cent stake in the new company and have already invested £15m in their projects. They intend injecting a further £10m in the longer-term.

Plans for the Hop Farm, including holiday cottages and new attractions, are already well under way.

Mr Hume-Kendall is also chairman of Clydesdale Bank in the region - based in Maidstone - and owns Lamberhurst Vineyard. Mr Bull was recently named London’s Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 and described as "an excellent role model for other aspiring entrepreneurs."

Mr Hume-Kendall said: "It is a great honour that Peter was voted Entrepreneur of the Year and we are delighted that he has decided to become our co-venturer at The Hop Farm as well as Bewl Water.

"It is a major boost to tourism in Kent and Sussex to have such an acknowledged expert in the industry involved in two such large and prestigious sites."