Welsh Government Seeks £1 Billion Boost to Tourism Industry

With a refreshing attitude of seeking an expansion of the tourism industry by way of organic growth rather than subsidies, the Welsh Government is looking at an expansion of some 25%  in tourism income by targeting the United States, Germany and Ireland. Economy Minister Edwina Hart said the target was "challenging yet realistic".

The cornerstone of the sought after growth will be the provision of a higher standard of accommodation, with more luxury, spa and heritage hotels as part of a strategy to boost earnings up to the year 2020..  The current position is that visitors spend about £4.5bn a year in Wales, supporting nearly 89,000 full-time jobs.

Partnership for Growth, the Welsh government strategy for tourism for the next seven years, looks for a focus on more heritage hotels that use historic and distinctive buildings, more luxury and branded hotels and more "well-being" facilities like spas. There were calls also for more all year-round attractions, activities and cultural experiences, and more "distinctive" products.

The Welsh Assembly Government is hoping for the £1bn financial boost

Pleasingly this expansion would not be at the expense of UK visitors, and marketing in Wales, London, south-east Midlands and Yorkshire will continue to rise.

Ms. Hart said, "This is a challenging yet realistic and achievable target, taking into consideration these tough economic conditions and bearing in mind that the negative economic climate in some of our key generating markets would also make growth difficult."

Tourism leaders gave the plans a cautious welcome. Peter Lavin, of North Wales Tourism, said: "Obviously it's very tough economic times so if you are looking at it today you would say it's very ambitious, but in a year or two's time you may say it's not ambitious enough. "I guess they're between a rock and a hard place.

"We have to have targets and we have to be ambitious. All our competition is also being ambitious so we have got to go for it."

Ian Griffiths, of Celtic Camping in Pembrokeshire, said he would like to see the Welsh government help open up new markets. "They could push for advertising to countries beyond the UK and bring students in, especially from Europe," he said. "We get a lot of Dutch, German and French but we could do more within Europe."