 Gearing
up for Easter
As the tourism industry gears
up for a busy Easter, the Tourism
Minister, Lord Elis-Thomas has been visiting North Wales tourism
businesses as they prepare for the holidays. With the first waves of the season having
rolled at Surf Snowdonia this week, we can also look forward to the start of various
events, including Surf Snowdonia’s spectacular Waves, Mud and Mountains event,
followed by the Great Outdoors Weekend – a celebration of North Wales
adventure. Find out
more.
Encouraging customers to choose Wales for
their next short break or holiday with creative engaging images and stories
from all parts of the country, Visit Wales’s international campaign for the
Spring is also underway: with a presence at global events such as ITB
Berlin; high-profile marketing for the Year of
the Sea in the UK, Ireland and Germany including television adverts
staring Hollywood star Luke Evans; and partnership
campaigns with major travel and tourism brands. Don’t forget to help us share
your news too and let us know what events and experiences you are planning for
Easter by sending them to Productnews@gov.wales and
keep an eye on visitwales.com to
see what we are featuring.
A vibrant industry rewarded at National Tourism
Awards for Wales 2018
 The National
Tourism Awards for Wales provided a showcase of the quality and
variety of experiences available here in Wales.
Following swiftly on from
the Oscars the winners of the National Tourism Awards for Wales were recently
revealed by the Tourism Minster Lord Dafydd Elis -Thomas during a glittering
sell out ceremony held at the Celtic Manor Resort on 8 March.
The winners were chosen from 44 regional winners,
which had been selected from more than 400 nominations across Wales. Categories
included best places to stay and eat, the best activity and best attraction - which
ranged from food safaris; staying in a castle; to adrenaline fuelled zip rides
- best practice in innovation; Young Tourism Person of the Year; Best
Destination and a Visit Wales Special Award for International Achievement. Read
about the event and the full list of categories and award winners here.
During
the pre dinner reception, the
regional winners also welcomed the opportunity to be presented with
their certificates by Welsh Government Director
of Culture, Sport and Tourism, Jason Thomas. Throughout the
awards dinner compered by TV presenter and weather forecaster Sian Lloyd, the
guests from the industry were entertained by Only Men Aloud and the Taliesin
string quartet and winners were invited to the stage to receive their awards
from the Tourism Minister Lord Elis-Thomas.
On
running the awards we had fantastic support from the 4 regional forums and Celtic
Manor Resort who played a major part in hosting the evening.
When asked what it means for Brecon Beacons Tourism and Brecon Beacons
National Park Authority to win the Best Destination Award, Laura Thomas
(Executive Director of Brecon Beacons Tourism) and Richard Tyler (Sustainable
Tourism Manager for Brecon Beacons National Park Authority) agreed “We are delighted to have won
Wales’ Best Destination! It’s a result of years of partnership working by
the Brecon Beacons Sustainable Destination Partnership and local tourism
businesses who have all helped develop and showcase the Brecon Beacons.
We hope the award will help attract more people to the region, further boost
our local economy and help us work to benefit local people and the environment.”
Quality Assurance scheme focuses
more on the visitor experience
Ahead of the Easter weekend, tourism
accommodation businesses are being encouraged to join Visit Wales’ Quality
Assurance schemes by Tourism Minister Lord Elis-Thomas who has
underlined the importance of quality being integral to the development and
delivery of the tourism experience in Wales.
The roll-out of the revised Quality Assurance guidelines for the
serviced and self-catering sectors will begin in April 2018 following recommendations
from a review undertaken by the national tourism organisations of Wales, England,
Scotland & Northern Ireland and the AA. Also taking into account customer
and industry feedback, the revised schemes will see more emphasis on the
quality of experience with less emphasis on the provision of facilities.
We have aligned the revisions to the Quality Assurance schemes
with a refresh of the Cymru Wales branded display materials which sees new
style external grading plaques, certificates and additional digital branded
components which will be issued to all graded businesses. Business will
not need to request the new materials; they will be issued during the early
summer months.
In a visit to the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel this week, the Tourism
Minister said: “Quality is integral to the future success of tourism in Wales –
and one way of ensuring we meet with customer expectations and demand in
addition to helping the industry strive to be the best they possibly can
- is through our Quality Assurance scheme. Although it was
acknowledged that the schemes needed to change, it was also the consensus
across all national tourism organisations that offering an independent
assessment of facilities and services is still important. Our grading
schemes are about confidence - confidence in what we have to offer,
confidence in how we are offering it and confidence that those who visit Wales
will experience a high quality, memorable experience. Read more.
Wales Tourism Week, 12-20 May 2018
The theme of this year’s Wales Tourism Week is ‘Collaborating to
Compete’ which aims to highlight the power of partnerships across the industry.
Co-ordinated by the Wales Tourism Alliance (WTA), there will be a series of events
throughout the week held by the industry to highlight how different enterprises
within sectors co-operate, provide excellent self-employment and career
opportunities as well as customer service excellence.
A reception, sponsored
by the Caravan & Motorhome Club, is being organised at the Senedd in
Cardiff on 15 May with a keynote speech from Tourism Minister Lord Dafydd
Elis Thomas.
Tourism associations, trade organisations and businesses across the
country are being urged to organise events that highlight the importance of the
industry and emphasise partnership during Wales Tourism Week. If you are considering
running an event during this week, find
out more here
and add details of the event onto the WTA website.
Stay up to date with
tourism and skills news
Make sure you stay up to
date by following us on twitter on @VisitWalesBiz
. You can also catch up with news on the Tourism pages of the Welsh Government
website and find out more about support for
improving skills in tourism here.
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