Cumbria Tourism launches new campaign

Cumbria Tourism is spending £500,000 on a new campaign to promote the Lake District.

theplacetobe runs from 18 January until 31 March and will see promotions appearing across the Northwest, Yorkshire, Northeast and Scotland.

The campaign will feature imagery from across Cumbria, but some businesses say too much attention is being focused on the Lake District at the expense of other parts of the county.

Victoria Farley is managing partner of Lanercost and says the north of the county is missing out: "The Government funding is for growing tourism businesses but the Lake District is a honey pot.

"It's already successful so it's an easier option rather than getting to the grassroots and seeing what they could do with that money for the other areas."

But Richard Greenwood from Cumbria Tourism disagrees: "We spend a huge amount marketing Cumbria to visitors from outside the county and we use the Lake District to attract visitors to the whole of the county."