A CAMPAIGN promoting the Lake District and Cumbria resulted in an extra £7 million being spent by tourists, research has found.

Cumbria Tourism linked up with VisitEngland for the 'Growing Tourism Locally' initiative - backed by government funding support.

Now analysis has shown that in Cumbria, it resulted in more tourists, more visitors spending as well as supporting 133 jobs.

One feature was a poster campaign running across key London rail and underground stations.

It drew people to the tourist board’s website - www.golakes.co.uk - with straplines like Go Shares Great Moments.

Of those that responded to a survey, 49 per cent travelled to Cumbria from outside the north west and 16 per cent were international visitors.

The average party size was 2.3 people who stayed 4.58 nights on average, spending upto £400 during their stay.

Nearly half - 44 per cent said they were directly influenced to make a trip to Cumbria after using the GoLakes website.

Around 13 per cent chose to stay longer than originally intended and 28 per cent of visitors went to more places in Cumbrian than planned because of the information available on the GoLakes website, the analysis found.

Ian Stephens, MD for Cumbria Tourism, said: "The joint campaign with VisitEngland has enabled The Lake District, Cumbria, to project itself to a wide and varied audience around the UK.

"Whilst the Lake District, Cumbria, is one of the UK's strongest and most recognised destination brands, we can’t rest on our laurels, especially with increased competition from places like Scotland, Wales and the South West, it is now more important than ever for us to keep our offering fresh.”

Helen Grant MP, Minister for Tourism, added: “The Growing Tourism Locally campaign is giving a boost to the domestic market and in its first year it has seen just under £100 million additional tourism spend and nearly two thousand additional jobs created in England.”

James Berresford, Chief Executive of Visit England, added: “The regional growth funding has provided a huge boost for tourism in England. The first year has proved incredibly successful with destinations throughout the country benefiting significantly from this investment, boosting local economies and creating important jobs.”