According to a new report Britain’s tourism economy is set to grow by 3.8 per cent a year – faster than manufacturing, construction and retail. This may lead to monetary growth and job creation, but can the environment and infrastructure of an area like the Lake District cope with such an influx of visitors? TONI GUILLOT investigates.

The predictions come in a report by professional services company Deloitte commissioned by a VisitBritain forecast which says ‘tourism’s worth’ to the economy was likely to grow from the current £127 billion a year to £257bn by 2025, representing 10 per cent of the UK gross domestic product.

It also shows a possible increase of around 11 per cent in tourism jobs, from the current 3 million to 3.8 million by 2025, which would be distributed across the whole of the UK.

The report explained how inbound tourism would continue to be the fastest-growing tourism sector - with spending by overseas visitors forecast to grow by more than six per cent a year.

This would lead to an international tourism balance of payments surplus within a decade - showing that the amount spent in the UK by overseas visitors would be more than the amount spent abroad by UK residents. According to the report, it is many years since such a surplus was noticed.

Head of policy and research at Cumbria Tourism Richard Greenwood believes there is ‘plenty of room’ in Cumbria for an increase in the tourism industry.

“This is a fabulous opportunity for us to fill Cumbria’s capacity and build on it,” said Mr Greenwood.

“No destination can keep completely still, and I feel that we need to work harder to keep up with the bigger cities and recapture the existing market in order to attract new visitors.

“Many towns and villages in the county already rely on the tourism industry to sustain shops and services. It also supports employment across other trades and professions such as plumbers, decorators, designers and farmers.

“We need a vibrant and healthy tourism sector in Cumbria to underpin the growth of the economy over the next decade. I believe it is the life blood of the area which we not only want to grow but sustain too.”

One of the roles of the Lake District National Park Authority is to devise policies that promote sustainable tourism by minimising the negative impacts and retaining the advantages of tourism.

Sustainable tourism means that the environment and people’s quality of life is protected. The Lake District was recently assessed by Green Globe and was awarded the accolade of the ‘first Green Globe destination in the world’, having all the key elements of sustainable tourism in place.

The Lake District National Park Authority’s director of learning and resources Kerry Powell said: “Tourism plays a massive role in the economy of the Lake District and Cumbria, and we want to see this go from strength to strength.

“We, together with our partners, Cumbria Tourism and the Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership, are working hard to ensure that the Lake District strengthens its position as a fantastic tourism destination and can capitalise on the growing market of international visitors.

“The achievement of World Heritage Site status for the Lake District would be just one of the ways we believe we can do this.”

Organisations such as Friends of the Lake District, the National Trust, the LDNPA and Fix the Fells are key in ensuring that the landscapes and access to Cumbria’s countryside is maintained.

A spokesperson for Friends of the Lake District said: “Tourism is vitally important to the economy of Cumbria as a whole and the benefits need to be felt more widely across the county.

“The Lake District is a very powerful brand, and more marketing needs to be done for other areas such as the west coast and Eden.

“Funding needs to go towards looking after our beautiful countryside with more visitors coming and without this investment, we feel, the landscape will suffer and visitors will go elsewhere.”

VisitBritain chairman Christopher Rodrigues said: “Inbound tourism is already one of Britain’s top export industries and will continue to be the fastest-growing sector of the industry.

“We need to continue to raise our game, marry policy and marketing and promote Britain even more aggressively overseas.”