Windermere Lake Cruises heads to China as new flights offer potential tourism boost

Cumbria’s leading paid for visitor attraction, Windermere Lake Cruises, is hoping to attract more tourists from China’s biggest city Shanghai thanks to new direct airlinks with the north of England.

One of the company’s leading executives has flown to Shanghai to meet Chinese tour operators and travel buyers to promote the Lake District, Cumbria.

Jennifer Cormack, Sales and Marketing Director with Windermere Lake Cruises, says: “This could be a very significant time for developing fresh tourism markets for Cumbria as direct flights between Manchester and Shanghai will launch at the beginning of July. We know Chinese tourists love the Lake District so these new flights
into Manchester will give them a great new gateway to the Lake District.
Heading to Shanghai now should give that trade a timely boost.”

New direct flights connecting Manchester Airport with Shanghai are due to launch on July 1 with the operator Juneyao Air running a service three days a week. The airlink was originally supposed to start in March 2020 but was delayed by the Global Pandemic.

“China is a key market for our county,” says Jennifer Cormack: “They love the region's scenery, history and culture. This new route into the North West of England will hopefully encourage more travellers to come and see all we have to offer.”

This latest trade mission by Windermere Lake Cruises comes after trips to other potential new markets around the world including first ever visits to Jakarta (Capital of Indonesia), Kuala Lumpur (Capital of Malaysia) and Bangkok (Capital of Thailand).

“The reaction we get from travel buyers in these new markets is incredible,” says Jennifer: “Many have traditionally taken overseas visitors to London and Edinburgh but now they are adding the English Lake District along with visits to quintessentially English attractions like Windermere Lake Cruises and the Lakeland Motor Museum.”

Windermere Lake Cruises has taken a lead in stimulating international visits. Last November they took a “Come to Cumbria!” message to both India and China having previously visited the USA and Europe.

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.