Tourism Enterprise. David Leslie
diversity to be found amongst the visitor attractions serves to illustrate the historic and cultural heritage in the LDNP, which rather dominated the survey of attractions in that Historic buildings and museums accounted for some 50% whilst A & C Centres/Galleries accounted for approximately 27%. Visitor numbers range from less than 10,000 to over 300,000 (the UK norm for the time was approximately 100,000) with the majority experiencing increased numbers during the 1990s; an overall growth of 30%. A number of attractions have developed since, one most notably the World of Beatrix Potter. Also, two other major developments in the area, one in the 1990s and the other 2000s, are Hayes Garden World and Lakeland, a major retail outlet for all things in the kitchen. Both of these retail outlets draw 1000s of visitors and are popular stopping places for coach tour parties. Further evidencing the popularity of the area is that between 1992 and 1998 there was an 11% increase in the number of pitches for caravan and camping sites in Cumbria.
Ownership (see Table 2.2)
The majority of enterprises are owner managed, single businesses (83%) and in many cases the family home, which is similar to Carlsen et al. (2001) and Garay and Font’s (2012) study into CSR and tourism enterprises in Catalonia (90%). This is a finding that is generally applicable to many of the food producers though they have a higher incidence of managers (12%). Further of note is a study into TOs based in Scotland, the majority of which were small operations and owner managed (84%) (Gaunt, 2004). The majority of the enterprises have Tourist Board grading (69%). In contrast, Garay and Font’s study included 24% with grading reflecting the different system operating in Spain. Demonstrating the trial and tribulations of successfully managing inns in rural areas is the finding that the Fringe Inns (see p. 6) have the highest incidence of new owners, which also reflects the more general pattern in the UK of change in both ownership and management in this sector, especially in the inns category.
The 2006 sample evidences longer average ownership and lower turnover of ownership compared with the LDNP (which is at par with the average for hotels and inns in England (Leslie, 2001)). Also, it includes slightly more enterprises that are part of a company group. In comparison the attractions are less likely to be owner managed, more probably part of a local or national group and have charitable status, e.g. National Trust, Historic Scotland. A marked contrast is to be found with the 2011 set, 26% of which are single businesses with a manager and 50% are part of a company group. Otherwise they are very similar to the Scottish sample of 2006. Findings that overall are similar to the Scottish TOs; 29% had been established within the previous 5 years and 25% between 5 and 10 years (Gaunt, 2004).
Factors identified as being influential as to why the owners were involved in the tourism/hospitality sector generally revolved round aspects of quality of life and are very similar with the findings of other research studies (see Cawley et al., 1999; Carlsen et al., 2001; Vernon et al., 2003; Garay and Font, 2012) namely:
• family home;
• attractiveness/quality of the physical environment of locality/wanted to live in this area. This factor would include ‘sustainability entrepreneurs’ whose values include being responsible for environmental and social aspects which are not seen as a cost or added extra (see Badulescu and Badulescu, 2012);
• manage own business; and
• took over family business.
Table 2.2. Category of ownership and duration.
aAll the enterprises
bIncludes attractions that are National Trust properties
As Clive Watson, Managing Director of Bowness Leisure plc (LDNP) said:
… huge demand for guesthouses by people who saw them as their only way of achieving their dream of moving into the lakes … and …. These people were moving for quality of life rather than for business income … (Leslie, 2001, p. 65)
Interestingly McGehee and Kim’s (2004) research into small farm (less than 100 acres) farmers in Virginia found a similar range of motivations. Another motivation is a personal interest/activity which is the basis for many a small tourism enterprise (see Badulescu and Badulescu, 2012). This is especially found in the supply of nature-based or outdoor adventure pursuits (see Leslie, 2010; Spenceley and Rylance, 2012; Holland, 2012). These factors were further affirmed through the audit interviews; manifest in the LDNP by the number of owners who are from outside of the area and are comparatively recent entries to the sector.
A locality’s attractiveness and ‘escape from urbanity’ are also motivations in the purchase of second homes or holiday homes in attractive locations. Opportunities have been encouraged by the potential to let as self-catering operations and by the prevailing upward trend in house prices for the better part of the last century i.e. secondary investment. Overall, these operations present a diverse variety of accommodations, e.g. new houses, flats, cottages, renovated/converted farm buildings. It is not surprising that the number of self-catering apartments in so many other rural locations in the UK, especially within a two hour drive of major conurbations, increased substantially during the 1980s and again by over a third in terms of supply in the 1990s (Leslie, 2007b). They are often managed for the owners by an agency. To illustrate: one agency in the LDNP has a portfolio comprising 50% of second/holiday homes and properties bought as a long-term investment. The management of these properties includes ensuring they are made ready for new guests and general housekeeping matters. Comparatively few of these properties are owned by people who live in the area and of these the majority are involved in farming or estate management. As such, much of the letting cost is lost to the locality. However, there is visitor spend on food and beverage operations, purchases of supplies and a small element of employment generation through the development of letting agents and also their staffing teams to prepare the premises for new guests etc.
Duration of ownership (see Table 2.2)
The enquiries into how long the enterprise had been operating under the current ownership established that many of the ‘younger’ operations, particularly for 2001, involved a change in ownership. For example, of all the categories in 2001, BB enterprises are more likely to be a new/recent business based in a ‘modern’ house. This is reflected in the higher presence of cavity wall insulation and double glazing, which is indicative of a less traditional building design than that commonly found in the area; similarly self-catering premises. The following selections drawn from the 2001 data serve to highlight various differences between the categories of enterprise:
| Duration | Category |
|---|---|
| 1–5 years | serviced accommodation 28%; arts and crafts 20% |
| 10–16 years | 63% of the food producers |
| 20+ years | serviced accommodation 30%; majority of inns, attractions and arts & crafts have been operating for over 25 years; a quarter of the food producers operational for over 80 years |
Garay and Font’s (2012) study found that 55% of the enterprises in their sample had been operational for 10 years or less, which is similar to the 62% of the 2001 audits. Restaurants, particularly cafes, attractions and the self-catering sector evidence the highest propensity for new developments in the last 5 years, reflecting the popularity of the area and the growth of the self-catering sector in the 1990s. In the self-catering sector approximately one in five properties (19%) had been built during the 1990s. In contrast, hotels and inns are far less likely to be in contemporary properties. An indicator as to the long-standing of these operations is demonstrated in the findings of the audits:
• 40% of the properties have ‘always been’ operating as designated; and
• 45% of the properties were previously homes.
As one local authority noted:
In many cases, hotels and guest houses are the result of conversions of large country