Attractions from across the Lake District have featured among symbols of "cool Britannia" at a promotional event in China.

Ullswater ‘Steamers’, Muncaster Castle, The Beatles, Manchester United, the Union Jack, red post boxes and Peter Rabbit were all used as examples of vibrant British culture at the recent Destination Britain China and North East Asia 2019 trade event.

The event took place between November 25 and November 28 in the city of X'ian in the Shaanxi province and of central China.

It was attended by around 100 overseas tour operators from China, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea.

The three-day event provided extensive opportunities to promote the region and the ease of travel from Manchester and Liverpool to the north of England and Cumbria.

Rachel Bell head of marketing and development at Lake District Estates said: "The event was a huge success. Being able to talk face to face with so many key travel agents and tour operators about not only visiting Cumbria, but the reasons to stay longer and explore further was invaluable.

"According to research by VisitBritain for every 22 visits from China, one job is created in Britain’s tourism industry. That is a significant statistic for Cumbria’s economy which relies heavily on the tourism sector."

Marketing Manchester is a partnership between organisations including the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership, VisitBritain and the Department for International Trade.

As well as promoting the city, it also acts as an umbrella organisation to promote other areas of the North West as well.

Rachel said: "We are delighted to be working with Marketing Manchester to further promote the region to this rapidly growing market."

VisitBritain’s ambition is to grow spend from Chinese visitors to £1bn annually by 2020.

Figures from travel data firm ForwardKeys showed the number of Chinese tourists visiting the UK this summer rose by almost a fifth. Meanwhile, a travel trends survey by TripAdvisor showed an increase of 133 per cent in Chinese travellers researching UK destinations between 2018 and the same period in 2019.