Now, call me controversial but the floods in Cumbria have put the county on the map. I'm a Cumbrian, born and bred, and I can't remember a time the area had so much coverage. I remember when I was younger watching North West Tonight and always getting bored, because the news was always about Manchester or Liverpool. It frustrated me that their reporters never seemed to venture further north then Lancashire. I know now that's because very little goes on!

For a week now not a day has passed without the floods being in the news, it is devastating and I personally know a number of people affected. However, it has opened the county up to a lot of exposure and that has got to be a good thing, right?

Cumbria is reliant on tourism and in the run up to the Christmas holidays many people will be planning trips to the Lake District, perhaps even intending on spending the festive season there. (I can highly recommend it!) However, with all the negative PR about the floods, collapsed bridges and massive clean-up operation there are concerns visitors will think Cumbria is closed this Christmas – despite the fact the majority of the county is actually unaffected.

This is a typical case of news outlets over-doing stories, granted those places that have been affected are devastated and it will take years to repair all the damage done, but for that to have a knock on affect to the rest of the county will not help.

Go Lakes PR team are one PR agency that have had a their work cut out this week. Check out their Twitter page @LakeDistrictPR. Not only have they been updating Tweeps on the floods; but they're also trying to ensure that visitors still go to the Lakes as planned.

Now Go Lakes has set up a hot-line for visitors to call before cancelling any plans, in the hope that the problems in a small area of the county will not have a knock on effect.

What comes from huge amounts of coverage for the county must now be a huge PR push to make the rest of the country aware that Cumbria is open for business.

Michelle