Written Statement by , Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism
Wednesday is designated World Tourism Day by the United Nations
and it has adopted the theme “Tourism and green investment” this
year. The campaign highlights the need for more and
better-targeted investments that contribute to the Sustainable
Development Goals and the UN roadmap for a better world by 2030.
The Welsh Government’s tourism strategy, Welcome to Wales:
priorities for the visitor economy 2020-25, aligns positively
with this year’s theme. It states our ambition to grow tourism
for the good of Wales, delivering benefits for people and places,
including environmental sustainability, social and cultural
enrichment and health benefits.
The plan incorporates the vision of Wales' distinctive Wellbeing
of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 into everything we do.
Tourism cannot exist in isolation; it interacts with wider policy
areas, such as transport, the environment, heritage and housing.
We want our tourism industry to align with our ambition to ensure
sustainable, balanced and thriving communities – striking the
right balance between economic growth and our wider wellbeing as
a country.
Our strategy focuses on three Ss – Seasonality, Spend and Spread.
We want to encourage the growth of off-peak tourism, enticing
visitors to stay longer and spend more; while also actively
promoting some of the quieter tourist spots in Wales. A fourth
‘S’ – sustainability – runs through everything we do; our
activities focus on growing tourism in a positive way and
developing the sustainability of our destinations and products.
Last year we piloted a new campaign, Sustainable Tourism Wales,
with the aim of helping Welsh tourism businesses to realise their
green ambitions. It focused on five areas to help businesses
improve their sustainability and help towards net zero – water,
waste, supply chain, energy and travel. Welsh businesses, which
had made improvements to their own carbon footprint shared their
experiences and best practice with those starting their
sustainability journey.
Sustainability is also at the heart of our Brilliant Basics
capital fund. The £5m scheme for 2023-25 delivers small-scale
infrastructure improvements in strategically important tourism
locations across Wales. This year’s scheme was open to local
authorities and national park authorities, funding 29 projects
across Wales. The fund supports infrastructure in popular tourist
areas which see a large number of visitors, helping to make
destinations more environmentally sustainable. For example,
Brilliant Basics funding has supported the installation of
electric charging points for cars, boats and bicycles across
Wales.
Sustainability is at the heart of Addo – The Wales Promise. First
developed in the summer of 2020, in response to the phasing out
of lockdown restrictions during the pandemic, Addo is now a
long-term initiative. It encourages people to make a promise to
care for Wales. It has two strands: asking people to care for our
communities and to care for our epic land. Addo focuses on the
benefits of being a good visitor, from asking people to behave
responsibly when enjoying the countryside to encouraging visitors
to support local retail and hospitality when on
holiday.
Visit Wales has also been working with Transport for Wales to
drive active tourism using public transport. A joint marketing
campaign promotes a sustainable tourism message by encouraging
use of the train to make day visits, take short breaks and travel
for longer holidays.
As we celebrate World Tourism Day we can reflect on the latest
industry data, which shows that in 2022, there was £4.6bn of
associated expenditure on all inbound, domestic and day trips in
Wales. And between April and December 2021 and April to December
2022 there was an increase of 13% in the volume of domestic
overnight trips taken in Wales and an increase of 35% in spend.
I am very proud that our marketing campaigns have been recognised
on the world stage. The Cymru Wales Brand won the Grand Prix at
the 2023 World Media Awards, as well as the Travel and Tourism
category. Congratulations to everyone who has worked so hard on
these campaigns to promote Wales to the world.
To celebrate World Tourism Day in Wales, I will this week be
visiting the National Botanic Garden of Wales, Neath Abbey and
Penderyn Swansea Copperworks Distillery.
Wales has so much to offer to visitors and I will continue to
ensure that we work to realise that potential, in a way that
achieves a sustainable balance between our communities, our
landscapes and our visitors.
