An influential group of tourism leaders and business owners gathered at a workshop in Newport this week (10 February) to work together to create new products, packages and short breaks which cross local boundaries and focus on sustainability, culture and food tourism.
The day-long ‘On Your Doorstep…’ workshop organised by Tourist Associations in the region and Capital Region Tourism (CRT), the lead tourism body for South East Wales, attracted more than 100 senior figures from the tourism industry and built on two successful events held last year.
Opening the conference, which was supported by Visit Wales, Welsh Heritage Minister, Alun Ffred Jones AM, reminded delegates that tourists do not recognise local boundaries and that joined up thinking by tourism associations, local authorities and businesses was required to ensure success. “The world will be watching South Wales this year,” he said. “We must seize that opportunity to encourage the world’s press to write about us and stimulate interest. It is then about working together and employing joined up thinking to offer the best visitor experience possible.”
Delegates were challenged by key note speakers in each of the event’s three focus areas – Peter Bursnall, chair of the Visit Wales sustainable Tourism Forum; Nerys Howell of Howell Food Consultancy and John Winton from the European Cultural Tourism Network.
Each speaker called on delegates to devise ways to integrate sustainability, culture and local produce into their business as a way of developing new products and packages for visitors and making their stay a uniquely Welsh experience.
At the end of the workshop, plans were in place to look at the feasibility of establishing small co-operatives to exploit interest in produce and the ‘food journey’. A similar scheme to support arts and crafts by turning guest houses into galleries is being explored and a third potential project aims to develop existing trails such as the Taff Trail and Celtic Trail into destinations in their own right rather than linkages, providing baggage transfer and activities along the route.
Peter Cole, regional strategy director, CRT, said: “The debate and discussion during today’s workshops has led to some exciting ideas. We hope that the local tourism associations will develop this model and hold similar workshops to encourage business to work together more to create unique visitor opportunities based on local heritage, landscape, activities, produce, culture and facilities. It is vital that tourism businesses are actively involved in the way destinations and the tourism offer are managed and developed. Visitors tell us that it is the difference of Wales that attracts them back time and time again. If we can build a stronger sense of place, then there are vast opportunities to be exploited in the visitor market here, across the UK and overseas.”
