Cumbria Tourism is an organisation that is used to dealing with challenges. 


Whether it is the foot-and-mouth outbreak of 2001 or the devastating floods which hit the county in 2009 and 2015, the county’s destination management organisation has often had its work cut out to help tourism businesses bounce back from disaster.  
As it celebrates its 50th year, Cumbria Tourism is again doing its best to help its 4,500 members and the wider sector recover from the far-reaching effects of the pandemic, coupled with a slew of other issues.  
"Everybody thought that post pandemic things would ease up dramatically and get back to normal, whatever normal is, and that really has not happened,” said president Jim Walker. 
“It’s all about the cost of living crisis. It's all about labour supply. It's all about supply chains, it's competition, all these things mixing together and it's really never got a lot easier as time has gone on. 
"It's a very challenging backdrop, but I think those operators that are working hard to tighten up the marketing and tighten up their offers and work hard at the delivery in terms of what they're offering visitors when they come, they will succeed.” 
Jim says the industry has become far more competitive since the Cumbria Tourist Board was first formed in 1974.

"Our customers are much more educated and the opportunities are much greater for them," he said. "Cumbria Tourism is working hard to highlight why Cumbria is different, why it offers superb opportunities for rest and relaxation and how it offers a much wider range of experiences than people, perhaps, would imagine. Our landscape is our prime attraction, of course, but there are lots of other things, lots of events, lots of activities, lots of experiences to engage in and it's trying to make sure that we grow our markets and we attract different types of markets to 50 years ago.” 
With overseas visitor numbers dropping in the wake of Covid-19, Jim says the organisation is focused on trying to bring them back, as well as offering training to businesses to keep them informed of the latest trends.  
"I think historically 50 years ago people were looking simply for self-catering, for a bed and breakfast or a hotel. That landscape has changed so dramatically,” said Jim.