CUMBRIA’S tourism industry grew for the fourth successive year and is now worth more than £2.9 billion to the local economy, new analysis shows.

Forty seven million people visited the county in 2017 - supporting almost 65,000 jobs, the annual ‘STEAM’ (Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Model) assessment revealed this week.

Cumbria’s staying visitors increased by 6.2 per cent in 2017 - equivalent to an extra 222,000 people – which is faster than the five per cent growth in day visitors.

Gill Haigh, managing director of Cumbria Tourism, said: “The results are positive for the entire county and are testament to the co-ordinated efforts of tourism businesses and partners working together on new products and developments.”

But she added: “That said, it has been a challenging start to 2018, largely due to the weather, and businesses have reported a slower start than we’ve seen for a while.

“As an industry, this means we should all re-double our efforts to work together and ensure this world-class destination continues to sustain jobs in the county.

“As we approach the great unknown of Brexit, there has never been a more important time for co-ordinated support and partnership working.”