In reply to neilcollins92:
> Surely it is landscape quality rather than visitor numbers that should be the key factor in deciding whether to designate?
Depends if you have kids who you might like to live locally in the future, NP status will put the price of many existing properties up and kill development in even sensible places.
Any non tourist industry will find planning restrictions limit growth and employment prospects. Which is fine if the residents prefer low skilled, low wage, seasonal tourist work.
You may sense I'm skeptical.