Top park urges new tourism minister to take a break
Tourism minister John Penrose has been advised to start his new job by taking a few days off - on a holiday park in the region where millions will be spending their holidays this summer.
The invitation has come from Henry Wild of Skelwith Fold Caravan Park in Ambleside which was recently named as the 2010 Holiday Park of the Year by Cumbria Tourism.
Henry says he will be delighted to provide Mr Penrose with use of a luxury holiday caravan, and to explain how tourism in Lakeland could be helped to provide even more local prosperity and jobs.
"It's fantastic news that the new government has brought back this ministerial post, and appears to be acknowledging the huge importance of Britain's £114 billion visitor economy," said Henry.
"Tourism's most dynamic accommodation sector is its holiday parks industry - and it would be great for Mr Penrose to experience our product first-hand and see why it's so popular.
"Parks generate massive spending in rural areas of Britain such as the Lake District, and they help to support many different businesses and the people they employ.
"In Mr Penrose's own constituency of West-Super-Mare, it's estimated by VisitBritain that around four thousand jobs - that's ten percent of the workforce - are tourism related.
"It's a similar picture in many other areas, and that's why we need an urgent agenda to ensure that our holiday parks industry is both promoted and protected," added Henry.
A main point he would like to see given priority is a more realistic and sympathetic response by planners to the development of new and existing park businesses.
Government, he says, should be advising local authorities to end their restrictive planning policies so that the private sector can invest and benefit regional economies and employment.
He also suggests that the national tourist board promotes rural areas such as Cumbria more widely to overseas visitors.
Too often, he says, visitor honeypots such as London and Stratford-upon-Avon take the limelight - and the run-up to the Olympics should be taken as a chance to spread the numbers more evenly.
"We would like nothing more than for the new tourism minister to spend a few nights in a caravan in the Lake District, and to discover why parks are so massively popular," said Henry.
"I'm certain he would return to Westminster both relaxed and ready for the new challenges, and with a fresh insight into what makes Cumbria and its parks so successful for British tourism," he added.