A LAKE District based hotel group is marking the tenth anniversary of a national tourism campaign to establish stronger links with Chinese tourism operators.
English Lakes Hotels Resorts & Venues has been working with VisitBritain since 2008 in a bid to attract more Chinese visitors to stay at its five hotels in Cumbria and North Lancashire.
Since then, the Chinese market has become the hotel group’s fastest growing overseas market. Visitor numbers to its venues from China have increased from 0.8 per cent to six per cent in recent years.
Colin Fox from English Lakes Hotels Resorts & Venues explains: “My first independent promotional visit to Shanghai was in 2003 and that led us to regularly attend the annual Destination Britain China event. In the last five years, we’ve clearly seen the benefits, with almost an eight-fold increase in Chinese visitors.
Several members of English Lake District China Forum will be attending the tenth VisitBritain delegation to China this month.
Mr Fox will be representing the forum at an extra promotional event in Shanghai, as well as in meetings with established contacts and leading Chinese tourism operators.
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