Tourism

Rory launching Tourism week at Lowther CastleTourism is our main income-earner, bringing in over one billion pounds a year, and supporting over ten thousand families in Penrith and The Border. People come to Cumbria for its wild and unspoilt landscape, its traditional small farms and its close-cropped fells. Cumbria’s competitive advantage remains its rural beauty, and any long-term strategy for the area must recognise that it is the protection of our landscape which will protect our economy. I was instrumental in launching the Cumbria Tourism APG in recognition of this.

The hugely successful “Cumbria Day”, held in Westminster since 2013, showcases the best of what this county has to offer, and any wider strategy has to continue to promote the area further afield. The Lake District is an incredibly powerful and internationally recognised brand that we must continue to develop and reinvigorate. In so doing, I see no reason why we cannot find ourselves in a world where tourists coming from China, India or Brazil see a photo on top of Blencathra as much an essential part of any sight-seeing trip to the UK, as Big Ben or Stonehenge.

RORY CELEBRATES TOURISM AND TEA ALONG THE BORDER

Local MP Rory Stewart stopped off to join a special group for tea at Bessietown’s Country Guest House in Catlowdy, as he sought to celebrate and promote tourism along the England-Scotland border. The Young wives club has now been running for more than fifty years. Rory was able to join the group for their monthly […]

RORY LAUNCHES ENGLISH TOURISM WEEK IN EDEN WITH FOCUS ON DISABLED VISITORS

On the back of his local and national campaigns to improve disabled access for visitors to the North Lakes –  focussing on improvements at Penrith railway station – Rory Stewart MP joined Eden Mencap members and staff on Ullswater on Friday to help launch English Tourism Week in Eden. The launch, organised by Eden District Council’s Tourism Team, […]

RORY OPENS BEWCASTLE’S NEW HADRIAN’S WALL EXHIBITION

was invited to officially open a new exhibition in the small village of Bewcastle which will look at the community’s turbulent border history. Set up by the Hadrian’s Wall Trust, and funded by Defra’s Rural Development Programme, the exhibition showcases over 2500 years of human history  – from the Bronze Age to the Roman occupation, […]

rory launches local campaign for english tourism week

A week showcasing one of the country’s most important industries has been officially launched in Eden by Rory at Hutton in the Forest, where a fleet of state-of-the-art electric bicycles stole the show. Organised by Eden District Council’s Tourism Team, the launch of English Tourism Week (16–24 March) saw Rory and specially invited guests try […]

FIRST ‘CUMBRIA DAY’ CELEBRATED IN WESTMINSTER BY PM

The Prime-Minister was among a hundred MPs who attended “Cumbria Day’ in Parliament today. The day, held in the Jubilee Room at the Houses of Parliament, and organised by Cumbria Tourism, Taste Cumbria and one of the MP’s offices, celebrated all things Cumbria to raise the profile of Cumbria in the nation’s capital. It was […]

cumbrian MPs launch cumbrian tourism and business APG

Following the success of ‘Cumbria Day’ held in Westminster, the six Cumbrian MPs – Rory Stewart MP, Tim Farron MP, John Stevenson MP, John Woodcock MP, Sir Tony Cunningham MP and Jamie Reed MP – have launched an ‘All Party Group’ (APG) focusing on Cumbrian tourism and business. The APG will be non-party political in […]

patron rory hosts fundraising talk for friends of the lake district

A fundraising talk supported by the charity’s Patron Rory for Friends of the Lake District has been a complete sell-out, helping to raise over £3,500 for the charity’s conservation projects. Entitled ‘From Afghanistan to Eden’, Rory used the talk to share his experiences of both his now famous walk across Afghanistan back in 2002, and his more recent endeavours […]