Flood advice to Tourism Businesses
Latest update Tuesday 24th November 13:35
As Cumbria starts a new working week in the aftermath of the unprecedented weather that has hit the area, the county's leading tourism organisation, Cumbria Tourism is keen to stress to visitors that Cumbria is still very much open for business.
- The Lake District, Cumbria is open for tourism business
- Visitors are advised to check the situation with individual accommodation providers before travelling
- Cumbria is a vast area and many parts of the county are largely unaffected and remain accessible
Ian Stephens, Chief Executive at Cumbria Tourism is calling for visitors to continue to support the county's vital tourism industry during this difficult time to ensure that businesses, lives, and infrastructure can be rebuilt.
Mr Stephens said: "Given the recent events over the past few days, it is more important than ever that people realise that, despite media reporting, Cumbria is not underwater. The Lake District and Cumbria is a vast area and there are many parts of the county that have been largely unaffected and continue to be accessible.
"In conjunction with partners across the county, we will be doing all we can to help those tourism businesses; specifically in the Cockermouth area that have suffered flood damage and our key aim will be to ensure that they are in a position to be open and trading again as soon as possible.
"In many cases this will take a number of months but tourism businesses in the Western Lake District have a strong sense of community spirit and I have no doubt that they will step up to the mark and show just how resilient they can be.
There are around 80 tourism businesses in the Cockermouth catchment area and Cumbria Tourism believes that at least half will have been severely disrupted.
However, in order to get a clear picture of the impact that the floods have had on Cumbria's tourism industry, Cumbria Tourism is today surveying its 3,000+ member businesses and will report on the findings in due course.
Tourism is one of Cumbria's most important industries and over 15.3 million visitors come to the county every year and bring more than £1.1 billion into the local economy.
Mr Stephens continued: "We appreciate that this is a very difficult time for tourism businesses but we would ask that they feed their concerns into us to enable us to influence key decision makers and funders across the county to access as much help and support as we can on their behalf."
"We have been overwhelmed by the messages of support and offers of help that have been received both from members of the public via outlets like our faceboook fan page and from accommodation providers who are offering reduced rates for people who are currently not able to return to their homes.
"Cumbria has triumphed from adversity in the past - from our recovery after Foot and Mouth in 2001 to the Carlisle floods of 2005, and it makes me proud to be part of such a strong, world class tourism industry that is recognised on a global scale.
"We must pull together and be positive going into 2010 and show the world that Cumbria is open for tourism business."
Tourism Business Information
Having spoken with our solicitors on your behalf they have advised the following in relation to accommodation bookings and visitors to Cumbria:
Businesses not affected by flooding
We recommend that you proactively contact your visitors who are arriving this weekend and explain that access to your property is not a problem and encourage them to pre-plan their route and check the websites listed at the bottom of this email to ensure a safe journey.
Business affected by flooding
Advice to visitors
Contact them as soon as possible to tell them that you regret to inform them that your property has been affected by the extreme weather conditions and you will refund their full deposit paid or you can offer to transfer the booking to a future date. (You should be able to claim the deposit back under your insurance). Before making any decision you are advised to take appropriate advice from your insurance company.
Advice for you on behalf of Trading Standards
Trading Standards has issued advice to people dealing with tradesmen and builders after the floods.
dealing with builders after the floods
Advice for you on behalf of business link
Businesses that have been affected directly or indirectly by flooding. The telephone lines are now open and the local rate number is 0845 00 66 888
The two links below may also be of use to businesses that can access the internet and who need guidance and information; one relates to general business continuity and the other to flood damage.
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/search?resultPage=1&expression=flood+damage&site=102
Visitors contacting you
Visitors who contact you seeking to cancel their booking even though your property is accessible, explain to them that access to the property isn't a problem and if the visitor still wants to cancel you need to refer to your normal cancellation terms and conditions. Again before making any decision you are advised to take appropriate legal advice and seek clarification from your insurance company.
Cumbria Tourism's communication with visitors
We are keeping our visitor website www.golakes.co.uk up to date with current information for visitors to Cumbria and with the help of our partners will keep events listings as accurate as possible.
For more information regarding flooding, contact Floodline on 0845 988 1188 or visit the Environment Agency website at www.environment-agency.gov.uk
Information on travel and transport in and around Cumbria is available from www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria
Update from Lake District National Park regarding information centres:
Bowness Bay TIC is closed for the foreseeable future.
Kind regards
Cumbria Tourism
