A NEW tourism forum for Furness is to be created as the region eyes a bigger slice of Cumbria’s visitor economy.

The forum was the main outcome from the Furness Tourism Summit, hosted by Barrow and Furness MP John Woodock at Ford Park in Ulverston.

Cumbria Tourism, Morecambe Bay Partnership and Furness Economic Development Forum (FEDF) will join forces with other organisations including the Lake District National Park Authority and the National Trust .

Mr Woodcock is to chair the first meeting after the 40 delegates who attended the summit threw their support behind the new forum in a bid to raise the profile of the region and capitalise on the already booming business tourism trade.

There was also support for developing a new brand for the region to complement the Lake District and Morecambe Bay identities.

Mr Woodcock said: “The first meeting of the forum will discuss how we are going to make it sustainable and then set goals. We have got these extraordinary parts of the Furness area ought to be up in lights around the country as premier attractions.

“We are working out a blueprint to put Furness on the tourism map in a way that could hugely benefit the economy in the years to come.”

Gill Haigh, managing director of Cumbria Tourism said Barrow and the surrounding area was “by far the worse” performing regions of Cumbria when it came to visitor numbers – lagging behind Carlisle, Eden and Copeland.

“We feel we can move it onto another level, but the onus is on us to collectively shout about what the area has to offer visitors.”

Carl Bevan, North West division ports manager at Association British Ports – which owns and operates the Port of Barrow – and chair of FEDF said more could be done to build on the region’s successful business tourism offer – reflected in the extension of Barrow’s Premier Inn, the £11 million development of a Holiday Inn Express in the town, and the Premier Inn development in Ulverston.

“We need to encourage regular business visitors to become brand ambassadors,” he said.

He also revealed an ambition to increase the number of cruise ships calling into Barrow from one or two a year to 10 in the next two to five years.