Bringing extra hotel beds to Denbighshire is the aim for the coming year as tourism in the county is rising, bringing hundreds of millions of pounds into the local economy. Denbighshire County Council’s Tourism Growth Plan has helped contribute to a rise in the number of visitors to the county to 5.86million, a 5.3 per cent increase on 2014, while more than 6,100 jobs, up 7.4 per cent, are supported by the sector. The total economic impact of tourism in the county for 2015 was £458.39m, a six per cent rise from the previous year. Carolyn Brindle, the Council’s Lead Officer Business Support & Local Growth, said: “Tourism is a vital part of Denbighshire’s economy. Tourism helps makes towns and villages sustainable and the Tourism Growth Plan, sets out the county’s approach to developing this sector. “The aims of the Plan are to increase numbers and, importantly, visitor spend as well as creating more jobs and more opportunities.Work on the Plan is being carried out by a number of departments, including the Council’s Tourism, Marketing and Events Team, as well as the Countryside Services team, working together under the direction of the Economic and Community Ambition Programme.” The main focus for the coming year is to increase the quality and number of beds in the county and developments in the pipeline include a Premier Inn and Travelodge in Rhyl which will bring an extra 140 beds to the county.Over the past year the Plan has provided funding to update the Ride North Wales website, which promotes the area as a haven for mountain bikers, and for the Clwydian Range Food Trail producers group to attend a range of food festivals and develop promotional materials. Funding was provided to Dee Valley Active, a group of 15 businesses created to harness the economic potential of the Dee Valley by providing and promoting outdoor adventure tourism.Part of the funding was used to set up a single point of sale booking system for the group. Lianne Ing of Corwen-based Stand Up Paddle Board UK, said: “This could mean big things for our business locally and other businesses like us.“To have a central booking platform for outdoor activities it will bring us local businesses together collaborating under one roof to provide the activities that we run and love to tourists and the local community.” Other projects included encouraging businesses to use Welsh to build on the economic strengths provided by Denbighshire’s strong Welsh identity and culture, which included helping the Oriel Hotel in St Asaph provide a Welsh wedding package. Matthew Jones Public Relations and Communications Officer
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Transport • Network Management Division Parc Cathays • Cathays Park Caerdydd • Cardiff CF10 3NQ Ein cyf/Our ref:OC/00347/17 Adrian Barsby Adrian@barsbyassociates.com Dear Adrian Thank you for your email of 5 April to Simon Jones regarding the impact of road works on the A55 on traffic flows and the implications for tourism. We recognise the importance of the tourism industry to Wales and appreciate the concerns raised by tourism businesses. We understand that road closures and road works can be frustrating for local residents, visitors and businesses, but do all that we can to ensure that disruption is kept to a minimum. When planning road works, we aim to complete all planned works before Easter and to have the A55 east of Llandygai free of planned daytime traffic management from Easter to the end of the summer road works embargo in September. We undertake as much of the necessary A55 works as we can overnight but you will appreciate that some works simply do not lend themselves to being removed each morning to allow normal traffic flow. This year is the third successive year where we have completed our daytime planned road works before Easter. Completion by Easter though has not been without its problems this year and we are looking again at embargo periods. We would be happy to meet with you to discuss the timing of works and brown tourism signs. I can be contacted at colin.jones@wales.gsi.gov.uk . Yours sincerely Colin Jones Head of Delivery and Operations April 19, 2017
Tourism businesses in Mid Wales have a brand new global shop window to promote the wide range of things for visitors to see and do within the beautiful region, which stretches between the Snowdonia and Brecon Beacons National Parks. MWT Cymru, the independent organisation that represents around 600 tourism and hospitality business across Powys, Ceredigion and Meirionnydd part of South Gwynedd, has upgraded and relaunched its website - www.visitmidwales.co.uk - in time for the main holiday season. The website, which is fully responsive to mobile phones, tablets and desktop pcs, has been completely rebuilt and redesigned to make it easier for users to navigate and find the information they need. Destinations are captured under the headings: Mid Wales Coast, Mid Wales Inland, Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons and Towns and Villages. Under the ‘Book your stay’ section, visitors can choose from more than 360 places, including hotels and B&Bs, self-catering, camping and touring, holiday parks, hostels and bunkhouses. To help visitors find their perfect holiday there are sections for families and kids, romantic couples, people who enjoy wildlife, groups and get-togethers, those with accessibility needs and those looking for pet friendly accommodation. Days out with things to see and do include history and heritage, culture and the arts, biking and cycling, country pursuits, walking and hiking, rail enthusiasts, outdoor adventure. In addition, there’s a what’s on section and useful information about tours and itineraries. A travel assistant section will help visitors decide how to get to Mid Wales and then how to move around the region. A new addition is a shortlist facility, which allows users to develop their own itinerary from the information available and then to print it off in pdf format. “The website contains a huge amount of information and we have tried to make it more user-friendly and easier to navigate,” said MWT Cymru’s chief executive Val Hawkins. “The key was to make the website more responsive to small mobile devices because, increasingly, people are accessing information on the move. “The fresh, new look is enhanced by eye-catching imagery and we hope visitors will be as pleased as we are with the result.” The survey shows that the UK have retained its position as the 5th most competitive destination in the world behind Spain, France, Germany and Japan (which has risen from 9th to 4th,replacing the USA which has dropped from 4th to 6th). Points of note
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TTCR_2017_web_0401.pdf Wales Tourism Week on the agenda in Wales and Westminster. This year’s Campaign to drive the Wales tourism industry higher up the political agenda will be launched on the 11th May as 'A celebration of our tourism stars'!
The Wales Tourism Alliance (WTA), the voice of the tourism industry in Wales, is coordinating Wales Tourism Week in association with Visit Wales and the tourism industry. Held annually to raise the profile of the tourism industry and to highlight its huge revenue generating value and the opportunities it provides for jobs and careers, the theme aims to highlight the stars of tourism in Wales. The WTA and its partners are also engaging pan Wales with Further and Higher education to talk about the opportunities that the industry can collaborate in, to encourage more youngsters into the industry particularly in the light of the potential impact of BREXIT. However, it is not only about the under 25’s, WTW is about demonstrating to persons of all ages that Tourism and the wider Visitor Economy is a rewarding and lifelong career with abundant opportunities for employment that suits every level of aspiration. There will be a week of coordinated activities engaging with politicians, senior government officials, colleges, schools, businesses, tourism associations and destination management organisations. Adrian Barsby, Chair of the WTA said “We want tourism associations and businesses to engage and showcase the fantastic breadth and depth of talent we have here in Wales. This is what really counts and what makes us able to deliver that vital economic contribution to Wales and our local communities. Unlike other industries Tourism benefits reach all parts of Wales’. The week-long series of events which will start with a launch in the Senedd (11th May) and finish with a tourism summit in Mid Wales on the 18th May. The summit will be opened with a keynote speech from Ken Skates, Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure. The Economy Secretary, said: “Tourism touches all parts of Wales and the geographical spread of employment generated by the tourism sector is one of its key strengths. It is the number-one industry in some rural communities, sustaining the local economy and culture. Tourism makes a vital contribution to the Welsh economy and is one of the Welsh Government’s priority sectors to grow the Welsh economy. Wales Tourism Week plays an important part in raising the profile of tourism as a key employer and a career, I look forward to meeting representatives from the industry during the summit next month.” The theme of the summit itself will be about internationalism and seek insight into future trends and challenges facing the industry. With the support of ColegauCymru, the Further and Higher Education Colleges will be celebrating their international links with programmes of work experience and learning journeys. This includes both Welsh students travelling the world and our colleges hosting students from around the world. In recognition of the international theme we are also delighted that Secretary of State for Wales and Under Secretary of State have offered also Ty Gwydyr in London to host a reception on the 16th May celebrating tourism in Wales. A full listing of the events taking place can be found on the Wales Tourism Alliance website http://www.wta.org.uk/wales-tourism-week.html The WTA along with its partners is calling on tourism associations, trade organisations and businesses across the country to undertake events that highlight the importance of the industry over the Week. So if you want to add your event please contact adrian@wta.org.uk letting us know the date, time and location. Supreme court rules father must pay fine for taking daughter out of school During term time10/4/2017 The Supreme Court released its verdict on the 6th April 2017 on the ability of parents to take their children out of school to go on holiday during term-time – this relates to the Isle of Wight case. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favour of the DfE case that it is against the regulations to take children out of school. The crux of their ruling is section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996 which requires children to attend regularly. They have interpreted this as meaning that children have to attend “in accordance with the attendance rules”. They did not accept that this requirement could be interpreted to mean that children could be taken out of class if, overall, they had a high attendance rate over the course of a year.
This ruling therefore highlights the need for better guidance from DfE which allows schools a degree of flexibility in considering requests from parents to take children from school during term-time. |