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Introduction Tourism is vitally important to the UK. The industry provides 1.6 million jobs across the country. In 2015, we saw the greatest number of overseas visits to the UK on record, bringing £22.1 billion into our economy. Domestic overnight spend also hit a record high of £19.6 billion in England. In short, the sector goes from strength to strength. But many overseas visitors never venture beyond London, so over 50% of their spending is in the capital. While we want tourist numbers to remain high, we also want the benefits of growth to be felt across the whole of the UK. This is a beautiful country, offering so much to […]

The Tourism Landscape: Department for Culture, Media and Sport Introduction The overall success of the tourism industry is contingent on its ability to work together to promote what it has to offer. However, as the sector is diverse, fragmented and competitive, businesses are often reluctant to invest significant time in collaborative endeavours. This is why Government support is needed. This document is aimed at everyone who wants to understand the roles and responsibilities of different government groups and bodies in improving the co-ordination of tourism offers and their promotion. If you have a query relating to the tourism agenda, it will help you to understand who you are best to contact in […]

Tourism Matters: An Election Brief by The Wales Tourism Alliance Click image to download

Introduction The Sustainable Tourism Strategy and Action Plan for the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) covers a five year period from 2015 to 2020. It has been based on extensive consultation and assessment, through meetings, workshops, surveys and analysis of available evidence. Its purpose is to provide a direction for tourism in the protected area together with a framework for coordinating action by all concerned. In particular, the strategy seeks to pursue forms of tourism that are appropriate to the protected area and which “take full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, […]

Visitor Information Needs EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Click image to download

The Faith Tourism Action Plan will aim to identify ways in which this significant part of our heritage can be enhanced as an attraction to visitors and locals alike. This action plan will focus on developing the Faith Tourism product as part of the wider visitor experience, although there could be scope to develop the niche religious tourism market where visitors travel for a religious purpose. Click on image to download

Research Aim The Welsh Government commissioned Beaufort Research in association with Houston Economic Consulting to identify and value the additional economic activity occurring at a given time in a local economy as the result of Tourist Information Centres (TICs). Research Methodology The work had two stages, the first stage involved engaging with a representative sample of TIC users across Wales to calculate the value of the TIC input during their trip. The second stage involved desk research/ economic impact modelling: applying TIC user valuations to the universe of TIC users across Wales to calculate the overall value of TIC user impact in 2012 by using visitor figures from 2011. Click […]

A Tourism Strategy for Wales The Minister for Economy, Science and Transport established a Tourism Sector Panel in September 2011 and asked them to lead the development of a new strategy and direction for the sector. This strategy represents the results of their work which has involved a process of research and analysis, evaluation of options and engagement with the tourism industry. This is a strategy for tourism overall in Wales rather than one for the Welsh Government alone. Tourism touches many parts of Government policy including skills and employment, planning, regeneration, heritage and culture; it also benefits many other sectors of the economy including transport, retail and agriculture. It […]