CUMBRIA is hoping to attract more visitors from China when Hainan Airlines starts direct flights from Beijing to Manchester next month.
Jennifer Cormack (left) from Windermere Lake Cruises, Steven Ip from NeeHao, a
magazine for the Chinese community, and Colin Fox
of English Lakes Hotels, at the event in London.
A special event to promote the area to Chinese tour operators and journalists has just been held in London.
It was the first event of its kind for any English region, and was organised by the Lake District's China Forum.
Key figures from the British tourism industry also attended.
Jennifer Cormack, sales and marketing manager for Windermere Lake Cruises, helped to organise the event.
She said: “As the world’s largest outbound market, Chinese travellers are a huge opportunity for the Lake District and Cumbria.
"It is fantastic that so many of our businesses are joining together to take this message to key London-based influencers and show that we are a welcoming, world-class destination.
“We are certainly very excited about the new direct flights into Manchester.
"Together with the existing rail infrastructure offered by Virgin from London and the ever-increasing frequency of direct trains, we’re in a great position to show how well connected and accessible we are to tour operators who can bring international visitors to the heart of the Lakes.”
She added that the 150th anniversary of Beatrix Potter’s birth, and the 125th birthday of MV Tern – the oldest vintage ‘steamer’ still operating on Windermere – would help market Cumbria in China.
Hainan Airlines will offer up to four direct flights per week to Manchester.
Figures from VisitBritain show that visits from China were up 37 per cent in the first nine months of 2015, smashing previous records.
There were 214,000 visits from China from January to September, beating the total for the whole of 2014, with figures for the last quarter of 2015 still to come. Spend was up four per cent over the same period to £435m.
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