Literature Review

• Tourism is defined by the WTO (cited in Gregory et al, 2009) as ‘as ‘the activities of persons traveling to and staying in places outside of their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes’

• Leslie demonstrates the extent to which Grasmere via Cumbria depends on tourism; ‘in addition to direct employment, tourism supports local services’ such as ‘the bus and rail network, village shops and public houses’ ( 2002:134)

Primary Results

• The purpose of my investigation was to focus on the varying effects of tourism in the area.

• Through a questionnaire I asked multiple local people their opinions on the influx of tourists.

• There seemed to be a consensus that tourism was beneficial as it was the main source of income within the village; indeed one person said the village could not survive without the tourists.

• They were grateful that there were lots of businesses and jobs created by the industry through hotels, cafes and specialist shops (e.g. souvenir shops, outdoor clothing retailers for hikers)

Primary Results continued• However a few minority of people asked had some problems with tourists. • The second person I questioned said there were hardly any local services left

(majority of businesses’ services are aimed at tourists). He also said that local people have been forced out of the area as property prices have risen. I also did notice a lot of holiday homes throughout the village.

• There were some concerns about increased traffic levels (especially in the summer) with problems that this creates (such as noise and air pollution). It is especially worse in Grasmere as some people said the infrastructure cannot cope with increased traffic levels.

• Apart issues on the village/people two people also expressed concerns about damage to the fells caused by large amounts of hikers.

• Apart from the questionnaire I also carried out data collection via a land use survey, a few field sketches, photographs and general observation.

Secondary Results

• The above table shows tourism is highly beneficial to the local economy in Cumbria

• In 2010 Cumbria had a total of 40 million visitors (35 million day trippers and 5 million overnight) who brought in £2billion for the local economy

• This also provided full time employment for 32,573 people. However most tourism jobs are part time or seasonal so ‘the total number of people in tourism jobs is estimated at 56,011 - 19% of all employment in the county.’

Table showing tourism revenue, tourist days, tourist numbers and tourism employment during 2010 for each of Cumbria's sub-areas and the county as a whole (LDNPA is not an additional component of the total)Source http://www.cumbriatourism.org/research/surveys-data.aspx

Secondary Results• Research on negative issues associated with tourism found results

similar to those gathered in my questionnaire (e.g. traffic, air pollution)

• Traffic can negatively affect local businesses (e.g. congestion can increase transportation costs for famers due to delays)

• 25% of tourists reported that overcrowding spoiled their visit which could stop them returning in the future (Slideshare, 2008)

• 20% of homes within the Lake District are holiday homes which can force up property prices and drive local people out of the area as they cannot afford to live there (Slideshare, 2008)

• This can cause several more negative effects experienced in Grasmere such as the lack of local services (e.g. shops, schools, buses)

Bibliography • Gregory D., Johnston R., Pratt G., Watts M. J., and Whatmore S,. (2009) The Dictionary of

Human Geography, Credo Reference http://0www.credoreference.com.library.edgehill.ac.uk/book/bkhumgeo#C_2

• Leslie D., (2002) ‘Serviced Accommodation, Environmental Preformance and Benchmarks’ in Pyo, S. (ed.) Benchmarks in Hospitality and Tourism, The Haworth Hospitality Press, Binghampton, NY, USA http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YLhvlHcfMPEC&pg=PA134&dq=tourism+in+Cumbria&hl=en&sa=X&ei=v9-jT5jKK9Ts8QPGtOS8CQ&ved=0CG0Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=tourism%20in%20Cumbria&f=false

• Cumbria Tourism (2010) ‘Research in Cumbria’ Cumbria Tourism: At the heart of our visitor economy http://www.cumbriatourism.org/research/surveys-data.aspx

• Slideshare (2008) ‘Tourism in Lake District’ Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/tudorgeog/tourism-in-lake-district