The beauty of the English Lake District is being promoted to brand new travel markets in some of the world’s biggest cities thanks to popular Cumbrian tourist attraction Windermere Lake Cruises.

For the first time ever it’s meeting hundreds of travel operators in Jakarta (Capital of Indonesia), Kuala Lumpur (Capital of Malaysia) and Bangkok (Capital of Thailand) to develop new business links.

The company is also promoting the wider Lake District destination, quality accommodation and key attractions during the trade mission.

“The most exciting thing about this visit is we are developing completely new business,” explains Jennifer Cormack, Sales and Marketing Director for Windermere Lake Cruises who is on the trip.

"The cities and countries involved have been highlighted as areas where there is a big market for travel experiences but traditionally people there don’t head to the English Lake District – we are looking to change that.”

Jennifer is part of a delegation from key English and Irish attractions which include the City of Cork, Historic Royal Palaces and Manchester City Football Stadium. It’s part of a UK and Ireland Destination Workshop Roadshow organised by the global travel operator Miki Travel.

“The reaction we are getting from travel agents in the cities has been incredible. Many of their itineraries have traditionally just taken overseas visitors to London and Edinburgh,” says Jennifer:

“Now they are adding the English Lake District to those itineraries along with visits to quintessentially English attractions like Windermere Lake Cruises and the Lakeland Motor Museum.

“It’s my job to promote Windermere Lake Cruises and our sister attraction the Lakeland Motor Museum to fresh visitor markets but I’m also looking at highlighting the wider destination as its all part of a unique package the Lake District offers.”

Tour operators are also hearing about venues including The World of Beatrix Potter Attraction and The Lakeside and Haverthwaite Steam Railway. The trade mission is also promoting accommodation providers including Lakeside Hotel, Langdale Chase, Lake District Country Hotels and Lake District tour operator Mountain Goat.

The number of international visitors to the Lake District is starting to pick up after the disruption of the global pandemic – but they have yet to fully recover.

Windermere Lake Cruises has been taking a lead in stimulating international visits with a programme of trade missions.

In November last year they took a “Come to Cumbria!” message to both India and China with visits to New Delhi and Shanghai having previous visited the USA and parts of Europe.

“The Global Pandemic drastically reduced the number of overseas travellers coming to Cumbria and while there has been a steady increase in international travel since then – we need to build on that momentum,” says Jennifer.

The importance to the visitor economy of international visitors is illustrated by research from Cumbria Tourism which shows international visitors usually spend 55% more per person per day than domestic visitors.