Kent has been awarded more than £300,000 to help raise its profile as a cultural destination.

It is hoped the successful bid to the Arts Council and VisitEngland will grow the county’s tourism industry by 5% over the next three years.

Tourism chiefs Visit Kent and Margate’s art gallery Turner Contemporary led the bid for a £330,599 share of their £3m Cultural Destinations fund.

A consortium of more than 20 Kent-based organisations supported the bid, including tourism businesses, transport providers, education providers, local government, and arts and culture specialists.

Visit Kent chief executive Sandra Matthews-Marsh said: “This is great news for Kent and will help consolidate our county as a key cultural destination for visitors from home and overseas.

“The success of our many high quality cultural destinations is well established and there are many more exciting plans in the pipeline.

“The wide range of partners we have brought together to drive Culture Kent forward over the coming years will ensure that we can really deliver the supporting framework our cultural destinations – new and established – need to raise awareness among our visitors and our residents.

“The importance of a thriving cultural offering within the visitor economy of today cannot be underestimated.”