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Posted 03 May 2024 Zip World

Posted 03 May 2024 The Celtic Manor Resort

Posted 03 May 2024 Vale Resort

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Posted 02 May 2024 Zip World

Posted 02 May 2024 Vale Resort

Posted 01 May 2024 The Celtic Manor Resort

Posted 01 May 2024 Vale Resort

Posted 01 May 2024 Zip World

Posted 29 Apr 2024 Parkdean Resorts

Posted 27 Apr 2024 Zip World

Posted 27 Apr 2024 The Celtic Manor Resort

Posted 26 Apr 2024 Swansea Council

Posted 26 Apr 2024 The Parkgate Hotel

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About north wales tourism aka go north wales.

North Wales Tourism is one of the UK’s leading tourism organisations, supporting business across North Wales. Our aim is to build and maintain a prosperous and sustainable industry in North Wales.

From time to time North Wales Tourism (NWT) are providing opportunities for organisations and/or individuals to work with them on various projects. When these become available they will be listed below:

Jobs, working for North Wales Tourism

Find opportunities for your business to provide goods, works or services to north wales tourism, privacy overview.

Exciting new vision for Welsh visitor economy

Gweledigaeth gyffrous newydd ar gyfer economi ymwelwyr cymru.

First Minister Mark Drakeford and Deputy Minister for Tourism Lord Elis-Thomas will today unveil an exciting future for the visitor economy in Wales.

The Welsh Government will publish its five-year plan to grow the visitor economy, focusing on Wales’ strengths – its landscapes, culture and places.

The new plan – Welcome to Wales: Priorities for the Visitor Economy 2020-25 – will be backed by two funds to support the industry: A new £10m fund - Brilliant Basics to support the all-important tourism infrastructure which will complement the £50m Wales Tourism Investment Fund focusing on high-quality, reputation-changing products.

Welcome to Wales and the new funding will help to tackle some of the main challenges facing the tourism industry in Wales – seasonality, spend and spread.

Launching the new vision today in Porthcawl, First Minister Mark Drakeford said:

“Over the past decade, tourism in Wales has been transformed, but there’s room for further growth in our visitor economy and we want to support that. 

 “Our new plan, with its priorities, strike the right balance between economic growth and our wider wellbeing as a country. We want to develop high-quality, year-round experiences, which are good for visitors and host communities. Sustainable growth can deliver health, environmental and cultural benefits by protecting and promoting our strengths.

“There are challenges facing the industry, including from Brexit. We believe the best response is to continue with our core business – to recognise tourism’s ongoing potential to act as a bedrock for the Welsh economy in projecting a positive message of and from Wales.”

Welcome to Wales highlights two main ideas of ‘Bro’ and ‘Byd’ – getting tourism right at a local level and ensuring the Welsh tourism offer can compete on the international stage.

The main actions over the next five years include:

• A £10m fund to invest in Brilliant Basics to support the all-important tourism infrastructure, which is part of delivering a high quality visitor experience from 2020-25.
• A focus on high quality, reputation-changing products. A £50m Wales Tourism Investment Fund – delivered in partnership with the Development Bank of Wales – to help finance reputation capital investment projects.
• Building on the success of the Events strategy, Event Wales will be set up to develop, grow and attract cultural, business and sporting events. This recognises the vital all-year role events play in attracting people to Wales.
• Visit Wales will focus on products and on developing experiences, which reflect Wales’ stand-out strengths as a country.
• Visit Wales will focus more of marketing efforts on growing off-peak tourism, encouraging people to spend more in Wales and spread the benefit of tourism.
• Two new themed years will be announced for 2022 and 2024.

Nearly one in 10 people across Wales works in tourism, which brings jobs to people throughout Wales. Tourism is on track to meet the 10% growth target set seven years ago – Wales has welcomed record numbers of UK visitors over the last five years and the value of domestic tourism grew by 14% last year.

Lord Elis-Thomas, Deputy Minister for Culture Sport and Tourism, said: 

“We want to build on our recent success and by 2025 we want to be known as a place that offers world-leading adventure, creative culture and language and outstanding, protected landscapes – and a place that wants to look after them for future generations.

“I’d like to thank the industry for the part it has played in developing this new plan and its priorities. 

“It has been very clear that the long-term growth of our own sector relies on caring for the things that attract people here in the first place. It is also what future markets will expect.”

Notes to editors

Dropbox – including:

• short form plan of Welcome to Wales: Priorities for the Visitor Economy 2020-25
• Images from the plan
• Year of Outdoors campaign film

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yhpfep68ey153ea/AACgRn-zJyh06fw7huE2FVIxa?dl=0

The full plan and supporting documents will be available on https://businesswales.gov.wales/tourism/  following the launch.

The launch takes place at the newly opened, Rest Bay Watersports Centre, Porthcawl which is part of  Visit Wales’ Tourism Attractor Destination programme, supported by £2.55m of EU and Welsh Government funding.  Joining the First Minister and Deputy Minister for Tourism will be members of the industry which will also take part in a panel discussion led by adventurer and presenter Lowri Morgan.  The Panel includes: Ben Clifford – Surfability; Paula Ellis - Retreats Group; Tracey Evans – Outdoor Partnership; Andrew Campbell  - Wales Tourism Alliance and Huw Stephens – presenter and DJ

Supportive comments  - Launch Panel members

Paula Ellis – General Manager, Retreats Group : “Wales has immense potential to be recognised as a world class destination. We need to capitalise on our unique sense of place, language and culture, combined with more quality products to raise our profile on a truly international stage. Our success at Retreats Group is attributed to treating our colleagues as our internal guests which has enabled us to address the skills gap in the most challenging of locations. Every guest is be perceived as a PR agent to help us promote the ‘Croeso Cynnes Cymreig’ of this unique Celtic country.”

Tracey Evans – Outdoor Partnership : “Wales is full of opportunities for tourists as well as local people to safely enjoy our great outdoors for health and economic advantages as well as enhancing and supporting the unique culture and history of Wales.” 

Ben Clifford – Surfability, said : “Wales is incredible — all this green and blue space —  and if you’re denied access to that because of a disability,  it’s such a shame. So it’s important that we make those spaces accessible to everyone. Surfing is great physical exercise, and it really connects you to the world around you and the environment. Being present and focused in the moment, while simultaneously being outdoors in the fresh air and exercising — the benefits are incredible.  The techniques we’ve developed in Wales are becoming part of the worldwide standard. Our own community benefits, too. Our volunteers get the chance to work with people in their community, making it a better place.”

Andrew Campbell, Wales Tourism Alliance , said: “Effective engagement between the private and public sectors is hugely important. Success depends on partnership and collaboration, so we need to forge relationships that make the best possible use of resources. The objectives of any priorities plan will be better achieved if we all collaborate closely. We’re all on the same journey together. We need to work in a greener and more environmentally efficient way, but sustainability also means sustaining communities. Tourism creates jobs in places that other industries don’t. This sector deserves to be taken seriously.”

Main aspects of the plan

Outstanding visitor experiences

• A £10m fund has been announced today to invest in Brilliant Basics to support the all-important tourism infrastructure which is part of delivering a high quality visitor experience.  This funding will also be used to ensure that Wales is an inclusive and accessible destination for all.
• Visit Wales will work with the industry to support an industry led Tourism Skills Partnership to explore a range of ways to raise status of the sector to future generations of workers.

World Class Products and places

• A £50m Wales Tourism Investment Fund (WTIF) – delivered in partnership with the Development Bank of Wales – will help finance reputation capital investment projects.
• In recognition of the vital role events play in in attracting people to Wales and building on the success of our Events Strategy we will establish Event Wales to also encompass business events.  An ‘Event Wales’ conference in the spring of 2020 will be an opportunity to engage further with the sector, in order to help shape the future and take account of an ongoing independent review of the events criteria
• Visit Wales will move to focus on products and on developing experiences that reflect Wales’s stand-out strengths as a country - these are Outstanding Natural Landscapes, Creative Culture and Epic Adventure.  Initially the focus will be on the Wales Coast Path, Offa’s Dyke and National Trails; Golf; Heritage Tourism and Film and TV; Mountain Biking and Cycling.

An Innovative Cymru Wales Brand

• We will continue to deliver a bold and integrated brand for Wales, harnessing tourism’s potential to present Wales to the world as a welcoming, vibrant destination.
• Visit Wales will commit resources to ensuring that digital first marketing efforts are focused on growing off-peak tourism, encouraging people to spend more in Wales and is spreading the benefit of tourism and tackling over-tourism by inspiring visitors to discover more of Wales.
• Visit Wales will launch a major new campaign for Wales for the next 3–5 years and announce new themed years for 2022 and 2024.

An engaged and vibrant sector 

We will recognise, coordinate and harness the contribution a wide range of partners can make.

Thousands of tourism job vacancies unfilled ahead of predicted travel boom

The UK alone is predicted to see a shortfall of around 12 per cent, with one in eight job vacancies left unfilled

• 12:21, 30 DEC 2021

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Thousands of travel and tourism job vacancies are expected to exist in the UK by the end of the year.

A new analysis of staff shortages by the World Travel & Tourism Council ( WTTC ) has revealed 205,000 roles are predicted to remain unfilled by the end of this year.

The figures from WTTC, show the enormous impact staff shortages could have on the UK’s economic recovery.

Data compiled by Oxford Economics for WTTC, analysed staff shortages across the UK and other major travel and tourism markets, including the US, Spain, France, Italy and Portugal, between July - December 2021 and 2022.

All countries showed significant staff shortages, with employment demand starting to outstrip the available labour supply leaving the travel and tourism sector struggling to fill available vacancies.

The UK alone is predicted to see a shortfall of around 12 per cent, with one in eight job vacancies left unfilled.

Julia Simpson, WTTC president and chief executive, said: “The UK’s economic recovery could be jeopardised if we don’t have enough people to fill these jobs as travellers return.

“If we cannot fill these vacancies, it could threaten the survival of travel and tourism businesses up and down the UK. Companies dependent on tourism have been hanging on for the upside, but this is just another blow that many may not survive.”

The global tourism body also warns reinstating damaging travel restrictions, such as the recent measures aimed at curbing the spread of the new Omicron variant, will only damage livelihoods.

As the demand for travel strengthened during the second half of 2021, in line with easing of restrictions and the recovering domestic market, the squeeze on labour has been unable to match the rising demand.

According to the report, demand for travel and tourism jobs is forecast at nearly 1.7m in the second half of 2021, with labour shortages projected at 205,000, equating to one in eight unfilled vacancies.

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Written Statement - Economic Benefits of Tourism to Wales

Ken Skates, Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism

This was published under the 2011 to 2016 administration of the Welsh Government

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Last year was a record breaking year for Wales’s tourism industry with domestic staying visitors to Wales peaking at over 10m trips in 2014 - with spend up 9% over the last two years; and trips from international visitors increasing by 9% since 2012 - and spend up 6%.

There are strong growth prospects for tourism in Wales and having weathered the recession, we are ahead of our strategic growth target which aims to grow tourism earnings in real terms by 10% or more by 2020.  Tourism is also a key source of export earnings with over £2.1 billion generated from staying visitors to Wales in 2014.

Figures for Wales continue to show growth in the volume of trips, nights and expenditure in Wales during the first six months of this year, compared to the same period last year.

This is all encouraging news for Wales’s economy as a whole; with the Deloitte/Oxford Economics 2013 study Tourism and growth – The economic contribution of the tourism economy in the UK indicating Tourism’s total overall contribution to the Welsh economy at £8.7 billion.  This contribution supports in total around 242,000 jobs – both direct and wider impact jobs generated through greater demand on related supply chains, local services and businesses.

Since 2005 tourism has seen high growth in employment in Wales, out performing all priority sectors in Wales with half of all 16 to 24 year olds employed in the priority sectors in Wales now employed in tourism.  Tourism also provides the highest proportion of employment for women in these priority sectors.

Tourism is an industry that benefits all parts of Wales and is the main employer in many areas. Among the Welsh Government priority sectors, Tourism is the second largest employer behind Energy & Environment.

The latest results from the Great Britain Tourism Survey for January to June of this year show expenditure on visits to Wales has risen by 25%, compared with 15% for Great Britain as a whole.

The volume of nights spent in Wales increased by 17% as people choose to stay longer, with the average length of stay up to 3.38 nights compared to 3.06 in the same period in 2014.  Related average spend per night rose to £56 compared to £53 in the first half of 2014.

Overseas visitor figures for the first quarter of 2015 show that Wales welcomed 137,000 overseas visitors, 5.4% up on the first quarter of 2014.

These positive figures follow, for example, a bumper August Bank Holiday weekend which saw crowds out across Wales, to support the P1 Welsh Grand Prix of the Sea at Cardiff Bay, amongst other events happening across Wales, including the Rhyl Air Show and World Bog Snorkelling Championships at Llanwrtyd Wells.

We are not complacent, it is a competitive world and the strength of the pound will make it increasingly important for Wales to innovate in quality products, keep our message fresh and give compelling reasons for people to visit Wales through our capital investment and marketing campaigns and our world class events calendar.

As part of this, we are continuing to work closely with the industry to sustain these figures and invest in new innovative world-class products, such as - Zip World, giant underground trampolines and world class mountain biking tracks - which are all pulling in millions of pounds worth of revenue to the Welsh economy every year.

The Welsh Government’s investment in tourism product development has helped to generate jobs.  Through the Tourism Investment Support Scheme (TISS) some 311 jobs were created / safeguarded in 2014/2015, inducing investment totalling some £13.9m.  In 2015/2016 to date TISS has supported some 216 jobs with investment induced totalling £7.6m to date.  

In 2014-15, total additional expenditure generated by our tourism marketing activities was £238 million, supporting over 5,400 jobs. A further 1,400 jobs were supported by our investment in Major Events, Travel Trade and Cruise-related activity.

The Environment from Growth programme has now been completed. The six year, £37 million EU funded programme has successfully developed eight iconic tourism centres of excellence across Wales which offer a range of new products and opportunities for visitors and local people to enjoy and take part in activities within Wales’ natural environment and coast. The eight centres of excellence have also created 130 jobs and generated over 2 million visits.

This has increased tourism’s contribution to the wider Welsh economy and gives testament to Wales’ growing and differing world-class products reflecting all the investment, hard work and dedication of the people working in the tourism sector.

In addition to our investment in product development we have introduced a new annual thematic marketing approach.  Starting next year with ‘Year of Adventure’, the first of a number of thematic year approaches to keep focusing on Wales’ core strengths and giving people compelling reasons to visit Wales. This will be followed by ‘Year of Legends’ in 2017 and ‘Year of the Sea’ in 2018.

The Year of Adventure has secured the backing of two prominent adventurers, Bear Grylls and Richard Parks, who have agreed to be Adventure Ambassadors for Wales in 2016.  

Through this Autumn, we will be working directly with tourism businesses to exhibit at travel trade shows to encourage more tour operators to include or expand their tour itineraries in Wales; we are also looking at some exciting new product start-ups; and I look forward to working with the industry to ensure that our Year of Adventure campaign is successful.

2016 will also mark the centenary of Roald Dahl’s birth in Wales and we will be promoting this in a similar vein to Dylan Thomas’ centenary in 2014. RD100 will form a key component of the Year of Adventure, with major events and activities taking place across Wales.

Next year will also see a great Welsh adventure in France taking place. The UEFA European Championship 2016 will offer an unprecedented opportunity to raise awareness of Wales as a European capital of adventure, paving the way to 2017 Year of Legends, when we will gain the largest television exposure ever for an event with the hosting of the UEFA Champions’ League Final.

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‘A huge market going untapped’: lack of visitors worries Wales

Country does not seem to get its fair share of tourists or money, despite so much spectacular mountain scenery and coastline

Any summer’s day on top of Yr Wyddfa you may be forgiven for thinking all is well with Welsh tourism. People are queuing to touch the summit cairn, the cafe is rammed and the railway fully booked.

But the Welsh affairs committee at Westminster this week voiced serious concerns. It pointed out that in 2019, international visitors spent about £515m in Wales, less than 2% of the £28bn they spent in the UK overall. Closer scrutiny revealed other worrying signs: in 2022, there were almost 2.8bn day trips taken by British residents but only 6% happened in Wales, and on those visits people spent less than elsewhere in Britain.

For a country with so much spectacular mountain scenery and coastline, the committee report on Wales makes painful reading, especially since world tourism surveys regularly show that “natural beauty” is the key driver for visitors.

Rowland Rees-Evans, the chair of Mid-Wales Tourism, said: “You have to look at the infrastructure, it is lagging behind. And then there’s a lack of communication between the tourism industry, the various marketing bodies and government. If we could work together, the potential is massive.”

This view is echoed by others working in tourism. Richard Rees runs Celtic Deep , which takes visitors out to see marine wildlife around Pembrokeshire. He said: “There’s a lack of awareness of what amazing world-class wildlife experiences we have here: from puffin colonies on Skomer Island to sightings of tuna, whales, sharks and dolphins. There’s a huge market that is going untapped.”

So what are the tourists missing out on in Wales?

Scenic railways

Infrastructure is often cited as weak, but in fact Wales has several remarkable railways. Board the Cambrian line from Shrewsbury down to Aberystwyth and you pass through stunning mountain scenery and, in season, can spot ospreys nesting near Dyfi junction. The northern branch to Pwllheli then rattles past several remarkable coastal sights, including the Mawddach estuary and Harlech Castle. Further south, the Heart of Wales line, another underfunded and creaky public service, is also one of the world’s finest rail routes.

Suzy Davies, the chair of the Wales Tourism Alliance , said: “We have poor quality carriages and unreliable services. But the routes are magnificent.” These lines also connect to some of the world’s finest collection of heritage steam services : the Ffestiniog , Talyllyn and the Vale of Rheidol railways. Other lines are dotted all over, from the Brecon Mountain Railway in the south to the Welsh Highland up north.

The Coastal Path

Wales is one of only a handful of countries that can claim to have a fully operational footpath right around itself, and what a gem it is. Start with the 870-mile coastal route that takes in the glories of the Gower , Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire , but also the less well-known seascapes of Ceredigion and Gwynnedd. Follow that with the Offa’s Dyke path , 177 miles through border mountains, often next to, and even on, the underrated ancient monument itself. The word “dyke” barely does justice to a vast eighth-century infrastructure project, way beyond the capacity of any administration nowadays, it rises to eight-metre high earth rampart for some stretches across lonely and isolated mountains. Elsewhere there are too many blocked and unsigned paths, but the coastal route and Offa’s Dyke are triumphs.

Yr Wyddfa takes the strain. Everyone climbs it. Meanwhile, a few miles away, other equally spectacular peaks can be peacefully unfrequented. Some are better known than others: Tryfan and Glyder Fach have great scrambles, further south there is Cnicht and Cadair Idris, the latter with wonderful views of the Irish Sea. These, however, are positively busy compared with the delights of Cadair Berwyn, Aran Fawddwy and Pumlumon Fawr, the highest mountain in mid-Wales and source of both the rivers Severn and Wye. Further east is Moel Famau, a hill topped by a tower. Down in Pembrokeshire, Foeldrygarn is home to an iron age hill fort and three bronze age cairns that were built when the hieroglyphic paint was still drying inside Tutankhamun’s tomb. Access is not always easy: some mountains do not have recognised summit paths, but the potential for hillwalkers is vast.

An industry that once dominated the landscape of north Wales lingers on as the ghost in the tourist machine. Old quarries are home to the fastest zip wires in the world and underground adventures like Go Below . The mines’ transport routes are now reborn as heritage railways . Real adventurers, however, treasure them as places to explore. You will need climbing skills and equipment to enjoy Eryri’s Dinorwic (this vast wonderland has access issues), but Llanfair near Harlech is more easily enjoyed. Slate was not the only mineral exploited, of course, and other mines that can be visited include coal and gold . At Parys, near Amlwch on Anglesey, is the wondrous orange moonscape of a former copper mine , once the largest in the world and mined since the bronze age.

Welsh language and culture

Once seen as the exclusive domain of fluent native speakers, there’s a recent shift towards inspiring interest and inclusivity (residential courses for beginners are available ). Call it the Deadpool effect. In 2020, the Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought Wrexham AFC. Reynolds’s TV channel Maximum Effort then started hosting Welsh-language programmes for its US and Canadian audiences. “In a lighthearted and humble way, they’ve embraced the language,” said Davies, “It’s made a difference.” A new younger demographic are bringing a livelier and less judgmental approach as shown by the Welsh-language channel S4C’s Gogglebocs Cymru, which embraced all kinds of accents and levels of ability. That, and football of course, has brought American tourists to Wrexham, proving that anything is possible.

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