Newsletter
November 08 WTA Newsletter Highlights
Industry Leaders to Call WAG Summit
WTA Chair was present at the Economic Summit on 16 October at Crickhowell House that had been called by the Welsh Assembly Government to discuss the economic situation and the financial crisis.
It is the intention for these joint Government and industry meetings to continue at frequent intervals to explore ways of mitigating the impact of the economic downturn.
Tourism Trends, Stats & Prospects
Visit Wales have issued an extensive analysis of stats for Domestic Tourism in 2007 with a comparison with 2006 and some comparisons with England and Scotland. With the current economic situation in mind, the following just looks at figures regarding spend by our visitors; all figures are in historic prices.
The figures do not make enjoyable reading but they do serve to highlight the need for continuing support for an industry that it so important to the economy of many parts of Wales.
The overall 13.2% decline in spend from £1633m to £1418m had already been announced and discussed; whether the figures are robust enough to be broken down into spend by region is perhaps debatable. Mid Wales showed the greatest decline of nearly 30% with the SW down by 23%; the North faired rather better with a decline of 7% with the SE down by less than 6%. Average spend per night dropped by a £1 to £44 compared to £54 in England and £60 in Scotland – both these figures are up by £2.
A New Approach to Digital Business for Tourism in Wales
Visit Wales have been advised that they can proceed to European funding application stage on this project and will go forward on the basis of the key principles coming out of the industry workshop held on 15 July 2008.
VW are now starting to develop the application/business plan at a strategic level with the aim of submitting it for approval prior to Christmas. It is intended that the first year of the project will be the time when options are investigated and a detailed delivery plan agreed with the tourism industry and the public sector partners that support it.
The project will run for 6 years from 2009 – 2014 with a cost of £18.5m with £8m of that coming from European funds.
News in Brief
VW Grading Fees – VW’s charges for grading inspections increased by 3% as from 1 October.
CRT online – Capital Region Tourism have launched their new web site – www.capitalregiontourism.org
Swansea Bay Tourism Awards – Brangwyn Hall will be the venue for the awards ceremony on the evening of Thursday 20 November – www.swanseabaytourismawards.co.uk.