The UK’s hottest holiday guide is out

One of the most popular holiday brochures produced in the United Kingdom is now available.

The 2012 Holiday Guide to the Lake District and Cumbria is hot off the press in time for the coming holiday season.

Produced by Cumbria Tourism, over 150,000 copies of the glossy guide have been printed and 140,000 alerts about the guide have been sent out by e-mail to our visitor database. Copies will also be available to download direct from www.golakes.co.uk and an e-brochure version will also be available.

The guide features over 400 businesses in the county and lists a range of places to stay and eat, things to do, upcoming events and contacts for every Tourist Information Centre in the county. Copies will be available throughout the year at key events, information centres and other high footfall locations across the UK.

This year’s guide for the first time ever is making use of QR Codes, (short for Quick Response Codes). We are using them in this edition of the guide to promote specific offers and to highlight specific information including our own GoLakes website. QR Codes can store and digitally present much more data than an advert ever could on its own, including; url links, geo coordinates, and text. Most importantly the information they contain can be read by most mobile phones, then stored and the information on them can then be accessed at a later date for future reference.

The guide also has a new look with stunning photography by some of the county’s best photographers with an emphasis of showing not just landscapes but visitors enjoying the whole range of things you can do in the area – from walking, canoeing, cycling, culture, romance, family days out and dining.

Ian Stephens, Managing Director of Cumbria Tourism, said: “We are really pleased with the look and feel of the 2012 Holiday Guide, which showcases the diversity of what the county has to offer visitors. We have already had a large number of enquiries about the new Guide and expect even more as we begin the distribution process’’.

He added: “2011 wasn’t an easy year for the economy as a whole but we are pleased to say that accommodation bookings in the Lake District, Cumbria, were up slightly overall by 2%, and visitor numbers to our attractions were up 5% bearing out the feeling that the staycation has arrived. Things are looking up for 2012 as a whole as we have a significant number of high class events throughout 2012, with events like the Brewery Arts Centre’s Free Range Comedy Festival from the 23rd – 27th May, The Whitehaven Diamond Jubilee Festival on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of June, Carlisle the Music City Festival 4th – 10th June, the Olympic Torch relay visiting the county from the 20th – the 22nd of June with the On the Night Shift performance by Les Commandos Percu on the Glebe, Bowness-on-Windermere to mark the opening of the Cultural Olympiad on the 21st June. With UK residents tightening their belts and likely to stay in the country for their holidays, tourism in Cumbria is in a strong position to have a good year, despite the economic climate, especially with a huge range of world class events on offer our county provides plenty of reasons to visit during 2012.’’