Owners of a rural tourism business in Northumberland have spoken of how updating their broadband has helped them after a survey revealed that a third of businesses in rural areas across the country are hampered by poor quality internet connection.
Many rural businesses in the North East, South West and West Midlands suffer from 'poor' or 'very poor' quality broadband according to a recent study done by the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE), which is based at Newcastle University, compared to a fifth in urban areas.
One such company was Laverock Law Cottages in Berwick, which took Gold in the ethical, responsible and sustainable tourism category at the North East Tourism Awards in March. The lack of good quality broadband, is said to be affecting the ability to be resilient and bounce back from adversity caused by the coronavirus pandemic in businesses like theirs.
