The biggest tourism leaflet distribution company in North Wales is set to break through the 150,000 million barrier this year – and it’s getting even bigger.
The operation was established by North Wales Tourism 26 years ago and is confounding doom-mongers by still going strong despite the growing influence of digital marketing.
It delivers promotional material from visitor attractions, activities and events across the region for visitors to pick up at 2,700 locations in North and Mid Wales.
Leaflets are also delivered by sub-contractors in the North West and the Midlands.
Now North Wales Tourism has taken over the running of the distribution company managed by the Attractions of Snowdonia consortium which will continue as a separate company and has been rebranded as Snowdonia Attractions.
The combined total of leaflets being delivered by the two companies by the fleet of four vans based at their depot in Llandudno Junction will top eight million this year.
The organisation has already distributed 147.000 million pieces of print since North Wales Distribution was founded in 1991.
According to Deborah Nettleton, the Membership and Distribution Manager at North Wales Tourism, the two companies dovetailed well together.
She said: “We’re running Snowdonia Attractions separately even though it’s all part and parcel of North Wales Tourism and it’s working really well.
“We had lots more print years ago however members have now reduced their print runs because of digital marketing. But there’s still a heck of a lot of printed leaflets.
“Visitors still want to hold a piece of print. That’s not going away, people do like it because it’s something they can keep in their pocket or in their bag, or in their car.
“People who predicted the death of print were obviously totally wrong and combined with digital marketing we can reach so many more people.
“It’s a good mix having both, and operators can put their QR codes on leaflets now so you can get so much on to a leaflet, but if you have a QR code you can scan it and receive all the information, obviously you can go to the website, and follow them on Facebook or on Twitter and other social media channels. So in way you get the best of both worlds.
“It’s the best marketing tool you can have apart from word of mouth. It works. If it didn’t work the visitor attractions, activities and events would not print anything.
It was a sentiment echoed by Jonathan Williams-Ellis, the chairman of the Attractions of Snowdonia consortium and the owner of the Glasfryn Parc activity centre at Y Ffȏr, near Pwllheli.
He explained: “Two years ago we purchased Neeta Distribution from a couple who were retiring, and they were doing such a good job that we felt that we couldn’t let it go to the wind.
“We took it on and ran it for a year but we’ve found it quite time-consuming, very tricky to run.
“We’ve always had a close relationship with North Wales Tourism so running the two operations together was the logical answer.
“The two things dovetail together neatly because you want the leaflets to be in
in motorway service stations and other places where there are people who are heading to North Wales.
“This partnership allows us to capitalise on the expertise and knowledge of North Wales Tourism staff from their years of experience in distribution, building on the excellent work done by Neeta over many years and allowing for a closer working relationship between Attractions of Snowdonia and North Wales Tourism.
