Following
the recent industry-wide consultation on the future of the regional tourism
partnerships, the Tourism Minister announced that
funding for the Regional Tourism Partnerships would cease from end of September
and that a new regional team would be established within Visit Wales.
Under the new ways of working, there will be three levels of regional
engagement between tourism business and Visit Wales.
What
does this mean for you?
At the local
level, there will be a regional team within Visit Wales who know the region your business is in and can act as a ‘one-stop-shop’ for any queries you might have about Government support, funding or the wider tourism industry.
At the regional
level you will have the opportunity either to join, or feed-into a Regional
Forum which will take the wider view across North, Mid, South East or South
West Wales. This Forum will identify ways in which individual business or
destinations can work more closely together within the region; will identify
opportunities for tourism development within the region, and will feed a
regional perspective into the Minister’s Tourism Advisory Board. The
key mechanism for feeding into each regional forum will be through existing
destination management partnerships.
At the National
level, you will have someone who is well known within tourism within your
region, representing the needs and views of the region as a key member of the Tourism Advisory Board who advises the Minister. They will also be able to feedback the
activities and priorities of the Board into the region.
What
happens next?
The
regional tourism partnerships continue to operate until 30th September and have
funding in place to deliver their business plans over that period. From
1st October the new regional team within Visit Wales will be operational. Appointments to the new team are still being worked through and
discussions are currently taking place on this matter.
The Minister has
agreed the regional budgets for the period October 2014 - March 2015 and details have been shared with Local Authorities.
The focus of this regional funding will be on:
- Continuing
to strengthen the private/public sector destination partnerships
- Continuing
to support key priorities within destination management plans
- Ensuring
there is support for regional PR and travel trade activity
- Providing training opportunities for businesses tailored to the needs of the region.
Further updates in
forthcoming editions of our newsletter, or if you've any questions or queries please email: visitwales.communications@wales.gsi.gov.uk
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