It is hard to think of a time when a fairly straightforward, standard Easter in the Lake District made people feel so good.

However, after two years of riding the Covid-19 rollercoaster, Cumbria’s tourism operators are just happy to see a bit of normality return, hopefully auguring for a more typical season to come.

Gill Haigh, managing director of Cumbria Tourism, says by all accounts Easter was “unexceptional, but in a good way”.

"Speaking to the businesses, I think that it's probably not quite as busy as it was in pre-Covid 2019 levels," she says.

"You have to factor in that we don't have international trade fully back up and also our coach group business isn't as buoyant as it was.

"It's getting back to normal, that's probably the best way to describe it. I think because international travel has opened up we are seeing people perhaps make later decisions in terms of holiday, based around whether they get a really good deal to go abroad.

“I think what will happen is less people will choose to take their main longer holiday break here. But hopefully they will want to take more shorter breaks. Again, that goes back to probably a more familiar pattern that we're used to.”

However the rest of the year plays out, Gill says bodies such as the Tactical Visitor Management Group will continue to benefit local people and businesses.

The group was formed during the pandemic by organisations including Cumbria Police, the county and district councils, Highways England and major landowners such as the National Trust and Forestry England. The groups shared information to take action to support Lake District communities and deal with issues such as littering and traffic.

Gill says its work will continue into the future, despite the lifting of coronavirus restrictions.

"One of the real positives to have come out of the last couple of years is partnership working," she says.

"It's still really important that we work together in order to deliver great experiences that are beneficial to our economy, to our communities, to our businesses and to our visitors. One of the great things that's come out of that is the whole thing around attract and disperse. There's lots of work continuing to educate and inform and inspire people to visit parts of the county that they might not have done pre-Covid, such as the coast. It gives people more reasons to come, but also more reasons to stay and stay longer and spend more.”

Dan Visser, director of sales and marketing for the Langdale Estate, near Ambleside, says Easter was busy but without some of the issues that accompanied surges in tourists during 2020 and 2021.

"What you didn't see is hundreds and hundreds of cars parking along double yellow lines,” he says.

“It's reassuring that people were at capacity in many places but what we didn't see is that battle against over capacity.

"We built ourselves up to looking forward to Easter and I think there's a bit of comfort that what should be a busy time has been a busy time. We can look forward and it feels more like normal. It feels like what we're used to."

However, there are still many uncertainties and challenges which remain.

"People can go abroad this year, the numbers may be relatively low but they can and, of course, there's a big, big question mark across all industries about consumer spending,” says Dan.

He says businesses are feeling the effects of increased costs just as much as the public.

"Our costs as an industry are all going up massively, and therefore our prices are going up just like everyone else," says Dan.

"So I think forward bookings across the industry are not as strong as previous years. There's a few customers waiting to see what happens, maybe waiting to pick some nice weather and waiting to see what their pay packet looks like with all their other costs.

“We're hearing reports of a lot of those people coming back. So that's really reassuring and positive for the coming months.”

He says although some international visitors seem to be returning after deferring bookings, the numbers are still low.

"What we're hearing from the travel trade is that we need to be looking at 2024 to get back to the levels of inbound tourism that we may have experienced in previous years,” says Dan.

While there is a general feeling of optimism about the coming year, the staffing crisis in the sector has not gone away with many unable to take full advantage of the opportunity.

"Brexit, that's not going away; the big rise in second homeownership, that's not going away. The lack of affordable housing; that's not going away. What we need to do as an industry is to make sure that we deliver fantastic working experiences, the right work life balance, really good working environments and good pay.

“We need, as an industry, to make sure that we make positive change where we can and there's lots and lots of that happening in all the businesses throughout the Lake District.”

Vanessa Metcalfe, tourism manager for Keswick Tourism Association, says businesses in the area have seen the benefit of people returning who visited for the first time during the pandemic.

"We're seeing people who came maybe for the first time last year, who absolutely loved it, and they're coming in again,” she says.

“So it's really nice to see people who were almost forced to come because they couldn't go abroad but now they're choosing to come back."

She says despite the ending of overseas travel restrictions, this year could still be a busy one for Lakeland traders.

"There is still a little bit of reluctance about travelling abroad and a little bit of worry with all of the cost of living increases," she says.

"I think a combination of things could mean we are going to see a busier season than pre-pandemic. Hopefully it won't seem quite as manic because we won't have had those periods of it being very quiet in between. So I think it'll just seem a bit more normal.”

However, she says the work that organisations like the Lake District National Park and Cumbria Tourism have done over the last two years to educate tourists and prepare for an influx of new visitors will still be valuable.

"I think going forward we need to continue getting the messages out there to people, encouraging them to behave in a respectful manner.”