Activating Cumbria
Cumbria has the potential to become the tourism hub of the UK, outlined from the future proposals to create improved levels of transport and interconnectivity. However, due to current policy restricting the usable landscape of the county by arbitrarily defining what could be considered as useful, landscapes are not as utilised as each other. There's currently inequity in tourism, the solution of which we intend to explore further through the introduction of a night economy into the region. There is an untapped potential of the night economy of Cumbria that relies primarily on tourism. By basing interventions around places and sites that contain underutilised areas we can begin to create interventions that address the inequity that has been created by the current day time tourism economy. Through the rebranding strategy, the region will begin to change as the introduction of new interventions can utilise the area's landscape and boost tourism. Developing a ski resort in Helvellyn was based on strategy of amplifying the existing activities in the region. A ski club currently in the Lake District was established in 1936, however, without any real infrastructure to allow visitors to stay for a prolonged period of time in the area and benefit from the ski lanes. Bringing the ski resort to Cumbria and using the unique views of the Lake District and dark skies to allow people to ski for 24 hours provides an experience only available at the Lake District.
