The Welsh Assembly Government has moved to clarify recent coverage in the Sunday Telegraph about research conducted to examine perceptions of Wales.
Here is their statement on the background to the research:
Visit Wales and the Arts Council of Wales on behalf of the Cultural Tourism Steering Group commissioned focus group research to examine perceptions of Wales as a cultural tourism destination. We also wanted to gain an insight into the needs and behaviour of visitors interested in undertaking cultural visits and activities.
The research was undertaken in the form of 11 focus groups spread geographically in target markets in England, with coverage in Wales and Ireland also. There were 87 participants in total. Focus groups are an important form of qualitative research but results are not statistical outputs. Rather, they are intended to provide insights into consumer perceptions and attitudes. Participants may be potential, rather than actual recent visitors. Focus group findings may differ markedly from results obtained in quantitative visitor surveys undertaken among actual visitors. Care must be taken that they are interpreted in context.
We are currently awaiting the results of our own 2009 National Visitor Survey. This is our most quantitative survey to date and has involved over 5,000 visitors in Wales being interviewed face-to-face during their visit. Results of the last Visitor Survey undertaken in 2006 showed that visitors are highly satisfied with their holiday. Full results of the 2006 survey can be viewed by clicking on the link on the right.
Visit Wales promotes Wales positively based on the strengths of our tourism offer whilst seeking to ensure that we deliver on our promises. Visit Wales‘ marketing goal is to create a distinctive, appealing image for Wales as a tourist destination, and to convert this into visits. Culture is an integral part of what makes a destination unique, so it’s one of the most important component parts of all our marketing activity. For 2010, 350,000 copies of our main printed promotional tool, Wales View Magazine will be produced. The magazine will be printed in English, Dutch, German, French and Spanish and every one of the articles includes reference to Welsh culture and the way we do things in Wales.
Much of our marketing activity is online. This provides us with a great opportunity to introduce Wales through its culture. On visitwales.co.uk, we introduce Wales in our “About Wales” section by covering Literature, Music, Food, History, Geography and Language. Using the web as our primary marketing medium also enables us to make efficient links to the wealth of material produced by other key partners e.g. the National Museum and Cadw.
The Croeso Cynnes Cymreig Industry training programme is now running. This new training programme, which is a joint venture by Visit Wales, The Welsh Language Board, the Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills, and Tourism Training for Wales has been designed to help businesses offer visitors a unique Welsh Welcome. It gives those working in our tourism industry the confidence, skills and knowledge to share Wales’ language, history and culture with our visitors by providing a high quality welcome which is distinctive to Wales. Croeso Cynnes, will be a prime tool in the implementation of the Ryder Cup Welcome Strategy, especially for the accommodation sector. The cricketing world stood up and took notice of the success of the Ashes Test in Cardiff, both in terms of that event’s organisation and the way in which visitors were welcomed. That success has helped form the thinking around how the Ryder Cup Welcome Strategy might be delivered, recognising that the logistics and location are very different.
