Businesses across Cumbria’s £3bn tourism industry are being urged to take part in a simple survey which gives them a chance to comment anonymously on the day-to-day issues affecting trade.

From Carlisle to Workington, Keswick to Brampton, Cumbria Tourism has been carrying out a ‘health check’ of tourism businesses for many years. As well as providing a full picture of how the sector is performing over the long-term, it gives vital up-to-date insight into the challenges and opportunities facing tourism-related businesses, which Cumbria Tourism can then use to make the argument for future investment and business support from regional and national decision-makers.

With continued uncertainty over Brexit, the county’s official Destination Management Organisation (DMO) says it’s more important than ever for businesses to take part and play their role in shaping the future direction of Cumbria’s visitor economy.

Carried out in conjunction with Lamont Pridmore, the latest research focuses on the past six months (April-September 2019). It’s open to any tourism related business including cafes, bars, retailers and transport providers, and participants don’t need to be members of Cumbria Tourism to get involved.

With Brexit at the forefront of people’s minds, new targeted questions around staff skills, recruitment and retention have also been added so businesses can comment on growing concerns about the Government’s proposed changes to the rules relating to employing foreign workers.

Research manager at Cumbria Tourism, Helen Tate, says, “This latest health check of the county’s tourism businesses is really important for helping us to understand all the key issues affecting trade – both positive and negative.

“It should take no more than 10 minutes to complete, but the feedback will help give us a very important and rich source of data, to help determine how we can best support businesses as they navigate the complexities, challenges - and indeed opportunities - being thrown up by Britain’s departure from the EU.

“Over the long term, participating businesses will also be helping to support an industry which sustains almost 65,000 full and part-time jobs across the county, as well as helping us to continuously improve as a world-class visitor destination.”

Cumbria Tourism’s managing director, Gill Haigh, adds, “Research gathered from businesses here in Cumbria feeds directly into our lobbying work with key decision-makers, including MPs, Government Ministers and other national organisations like VisitBritain.

“With the continued participation of businesses in this survey, we can keep up this type of pressure to strengthen not just the visitor economy, but Cumbria’s economy as a whole.”

The six-monthly tourism business ‘health check’ is just one area of regular research undertaken by Cumbria Tourism as part of its role as the county’s official Destination Management Organisation.

It complements other analysis by the research team including monthly occupancy surveys, county-wide visitor surveys, regular analysis of accommodation stock and data collection from Tourist Information Centres and visitor attractions.

Complete the latest tourism business ‘health check’ at www.cumbriatourism.org