Lake District hotel manager says they 'can't afford to lower prices' as data shows tourism drop
The sector contributed £4.6bn to the local economy last year, according to Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor (STEAM) data. Cumbria's tourism industry totals almost 75,000 jobs, equalling 28% of the county's workforce.
Hotel General Manager Miguel Sanchez, of Windermere Hotel, says they've shortened their opening hours.
He said: "We're seeing an increase in people getting takeaways to the hotel or going across the road to the supermarket to buy lunch.
"We have seen wages increase massively in the last couple of years. We have the cost of food, utilities increasing as well, so we cannot really lower our prices more.
"We are running the hotel with the same number of staff that we had in the winter. But we are 1% down from last year in occupancy. Typically, in the past, visitors would stay three nights, four nights. Now we're seeing a lot of visitors coming for one night or two nights."The number of visitors fell by 3.3% and night stays also fell by 6.3% last year. Daytime tourists are also down by 4% - a loss of 1.42m.
James and Ursula White, tourists travelling from Oxford, believe visiting the Lakes is "almost as expensive as going abroad".
They said: "Probably even more expensive at times. But it's worth it. I think younger people will have to cut the costs by perhaps not eating out quite so much."
"But if you love the Lakes, as we do, you're going to come anyway. And if you can't afford the hotels, then you're going to stay in the B&Bs, the Airbnb, or you're going to camp.
"But the draw is the countryside, the lakes, the mountains - it's the beauty of the place."One tourist said: "We noticed it's a little bit more expensive in some aspects than to back in Canada. But it's like up and down."Another visitor added: "We just always bring the dog up and go for nice walks in the rain."
Windermere Lake Cruises say visitor revenue is down by 20% in the last five years.Jennifer Cormack, from Windermere Lake Cruises, says visitor numbers do not necessarily translate to business income.
She said: "Sometimes the area does seem quite busy, but people are here just enjoying it without doing an attraction and without going into a cafe. So people may not get the pint and the packet of crisps that they once did when they get on the boat, or they'll do a smaller boat trip rather than the full boat trip around the lake.
"But we've seen an increase in international visitors. And their spending habits are different - they do spend a lot more. So China and India, the recovery is great.
"We've still seen a slow recovery from Japan, and the US was big for us, and now, because of difficulties in the US, that business has stopped as well."
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