Southend Council is preparing to market the town in some of Europe’s hidden gems after an advert went viral in Holland.

The authority got a £100,000 grant from the Government in a bid to boost tourism to English shores, and used the money to advertise Southend to north Holland.

Southend Airport offers a route to Groningen.

An advert plugging the town is currently being shown on Dutch prime time television, during lucrative slots before the evening and night news.

In its two weeks of airtime, the video is expected to be seen by one million people in the north of the country.

Tourism bosses have now hinted they could look to repeat the feat at other destinations served by Southend Airport, such as Rennes in France.

It comes after a group was set up to market the town as an alternative tourist destination, not just a link to London.

A Dutch website advertising the town has been visited by 14,000 people, while the television advert has been viewed on Facebook 160,000 times.

Southend will also be advertised in a Dutch newspaper.

Scott Dolling, head of enterprise and tourism at the council, said: “I’m shaking a bit here because I’m really excited about this, because it has gone bananas.

“I’ve never seen a campaign go like this before.

“We can’t exactly do the same as this with the likes of Barcelona, but we could try and replicate it with other routes such as Rennes – and even Carlisle.

“The TV company who checked the ad booked their next away day conference to Southend because they were so enamoured by the town.”

Dutch firm N8W8 were tasked with marketing Southend from the £100,000 grant, which came from Great UK Challenge.

The cash is expected to generate 2,000 extra visits to Britain.

The new tourism group, tasked with marketing the town both domestically and internationally, is chaired by Jacqui Dallimore, the managing director of the Roslin Hotel, in Thorpe Bay Esplanade.

In future, they are looking at offering two for one deals at Southend attractions, like London does, to entice domestic tourists, as well as trying to capitalise on Flybe’s routes to the town.

Tory Stephen Habermel, shadow cabinet member for tourism, said: “Watching this advertisement makes you proud to be from Southend