Tourism back after foot-and-mouth

Visitor numbers have risen by almost two million, said consultants

A four-year campaign to help Cumbria's tourism recover from foot-and- mouth disease has been hailed a success.

The Lakes Plus marketing campaign, run by Cumbria Tourism, is believed to have encouraged visitors to spend an extra £17 million a year in the county.

During the outbreak in 2001, many visitors were under the impression that the countryside was closed, crippling the tourist industry.

Now independent consultants have found that the industry has "bounced back".

The foot-and-mouth outbreak led to the slaughter of 6.5m animals, devastated many farms and rural businesses, and is estimated to have cost the UK up to £8bn.

The marketing campaign began in 2003 and involves Cumbria Tourism marketing the county to the UK and overseas visitors as a world class destination.

During their evaluation of the campaign, the consultants found it had managed to save 800 jobs a year and increase visitor numbers from 13.8m in 2001 to 15.5m in 2005.

Bounced back

They also found spending in the county had increased from £931m to £1.13bn over the same period.

In their report the consultants said: "Cumbria Tourism used Lakes Plus effectively to expand existing activity while introducing new themes, PR activity and web development.

"And in this regard, Lakes Plus has contributed to success and tourism in Cumbria has largely bounced back from FMD."

Marketing director Sheona Southern said Cumbria Tourism hoped to build on its success.

She said: "We have spearheaded a series of innovative promotions of the county including on and offline marketing activity, undertaken major national media campaigns, strengthened group travel promotions and made headlines around the world with our public relations activity."