Who Pays for the Lake
District?

Tourism brings huge benefits to the local economy of the Lake District. But there are costs connected to it where the number of visitors exceeds infrastructure capacity, and causes harm to the environment and communities of the area. By finding a way to address these issues, the Lake District National Park can be improved for visitors, businesses and residents.

Commissioned by Friends of the Lake District, the report Who Pays for the Lake District? by sustainable tourism specialist Dr Davina Stanford, identifies where tourism is creating an “invisible burden” on the Lake District National Park’s landscape, environment and communities, and then looks at how different tourist destinations across Europe deal with visitor impacts. The report also examines the ways that local authorities could raise money connected to tourism to make a positive difference to area.

Based on this research, Friend of the Lake District believes that we need to explore the various schemes that could be implemented to address the impacts of tourism in the Lake District and unlock investment in vital areas like public transport. It hopes that this report provides the basis for a discussion about the most appropriate type of scheme for the Lake District, and for developing a plan to make this happen.