Cambria Politico – The Political Blog

Amongst other tourism news, the press release reproduced below has come from ‘Visit Wales communications’. This blog (and others) has been scathing about Visit Wales believing it to be a huge waste of money and ineffective in its job at promoting Wales. This is exemplified by the  ludicrous website VisitWales and  the mistargeting of expensive TV ads at totally the wrong demographic and in strange places at strange times.  In spite of colossal sums of Objective One money being spent (not in Wales) and now allocated to it yet again from Convergence funding it is still not clear how tourism operators are going to benefit. What are they going to do? Build another Australian website?

Why do they need so much consultation and conferences and  reports often taking years to prepare? The issues that face Welsh Tourism have been understood for decades (the weather, overpricing, poor delivery, and even poorer marketing)!

What Wales needs is more tourists, a strategy to get them here and somebody half intelligent to implement it – how simple is that?

As for a marketing pitch/strategy, it’s a ‘no brainer’- “Come to Wales for your holiday because we are within a 2-4h drive on good roads of most places in the UK. We are not a war or a tropical storm zone nor will we force you to spend hours in an airport lounge. You can bring your pet. It is very safe for kiddies and we (most of us) speak the same language as you do. The pubs are open 24h, serve decent beer and you can get fish and chips most everywhere. If you get fed up, it starts to rain or the holiday is leading to divorce it is only a short trip back home. Oh and whilst you are here there is usually plenty of things to do and see. If you want to be burned to an expensive and painful crisp in the sun  on some beach then don’t bother coming.”

Enjoy the stuff below (yawn)-

HERITAGE MINISTER TO HOLD TOURISM SUMMIT
During his address at the Wales Tourism Alliance’s annual conference on 2 November, the Heritage Minister, Alun Fred Jones, announced that he would be holding a tourism summit to support the industry through the current difficult climate.

The summit will also be a first step to a closer working partnership between Government and the industry. The Heritage Minister, said: “I would very much like to have far wider industry involvement in the development of tourism policy and strategy. I will be asking my officials in Visit Wales to bring forward to me ways of establishing a stronger industry input into the development of the tourism industry in Wales.

“As a first step to initiate this closer working partnership I would like to build on the recent All-Wales Economic Summit and I propose to hold a summit of tourism sector representatives at which Visit Wales and the industry can explore ways in which what we as a Government can specifically support the industry in these uncertain economic times.”

The summit will take place on November 19, membership, time and location will be confirmed in due course.

Julian Burrell, Chair of the Wales Tourism Alliance welcomed the announcement:

“Wales Tourism Alliance, the industry’s umbrella organisation, believes the current economic situation demands effective and radical solutions to deliver the industry’s needs and warmly welcomes the Minister’s announcement of a Tourism Summit to take place in Swansea on November 19.

“WTA would wish to see a regular and more structured participatory process become available to the industry. The severe fallout predicted for the post-credit crunch economy makes it vital that the industry’s representatives stand alongside our politicians and together we determine to do everything within our power to protect jobs and protect businesses and to deliver the best possible returns.”

During his address the Minister noted that firm commitments were outlined in One Wales on working to help develop an industry that can meet the challenges imposed by ever increasing competition and expectations, the include: to continue to promote Wales actively in external markets; to develop and promote the Wales brand; to support tourism as market moves towards shorter and activity breaks; to make strategic investments in tourism facilities and skills; to promote Wales’s contribution to international sporting events’ building on the opportunities of the Ryder Cup; and to build on work to raise the international profile of Wales.

The Minister outlined the investment being made by the Assembly Government, and the funding available for the tourism industry, he said: “The welcome addition of £4.2m funding for marketing has meant a significant boost to the UK summer and autumn campaigns and will allow a much bigger than anticipated UK campaign in January to kickstart early bookings for 2009. It has meant TV campaigns and the expansion of International campaigns.

“The Single Investment Fund is now open to tourism – potentially tourism operators now have a larger pot to seek grant funding from. In addition to this, support for tourism is also being delivered through the Rural Development Plan. Minister for Rural Affairs, Elin Jones announced in June a package worth £47.8 million over the next three years, with projects encouraging tourism activities and heritage protection being prioritised.

“Tourism is also at the heart of the 15 year £140 million Heads of the Valley Initiative; over the next three years overall investment for tourism in the region of £23 million including £9 million from EU Convergence fund recently announced by Deputy Minister for Regeneration, Leighton Andrews. The Deputy Minister also recently announced £15 million over the next three years for the Mon a Menai Action Plan – a number of projects will be tourism focused; and support for the regeneration of the seaside towns of Rhyl and Colwyn Bay. As we can see tourism is playing a crucial role in many aspects of Welsh life.”

VisitWales can expect an invoice for consultancy. How much do you think we should charge?