Wales Tourism Alliance Annual Conference Report – November 2012
Introduction: A lively and thought provoking conference was held; we have received very positive
feedback and look forward to continuing the theme of 'Working Together' in Wales Tourism Week
which will be held 23 February through to 3 March 2013.
Though tourism has been fairly resilient in recessionary times and still offers a dependable delivery of
taxation and jobs, we are concerned that without a unified approach, amongst all the industry partners
across Wales in the private and public sectors, our industry is at risk. We have recently received some
disappointing figures from the GB Tourism Survey which has seen Wales lose its market share of
overnight domestic tourism in Wales.
For the first six months of this year there was a slight increase of 1% in holiday trips compared to the
same period in 2011, but with the number of tourist nights declining by 8.2% and spend down 13.3% this does not bode well for our future. Business visits increased by 27.6%, but the number of business
tourist nights was virtually the same as last year, with another double digit decrease in spend of
11.3%. It is imperative that we work together in partnership as an industry to provide new impetus for
the future
A new government tourism strategy for the industry is currently being developed: The WTA has
recently engaged with the Tourism Sector Panel on behalf of the industry in Wales prior to a new draft
strategy which will replace the previous one ‘Achieving our Potential’. This was an opportunity for the
industry to put forward its views and provide some innovative and constructive ideas when the
strategy is in draft stage and before it goes out for full consultation. One of WTA's key objectives is to
encourage the industry and Welsh Government to move forward together to ensure the right
conditions are in place to enable the industry to thrive.
Ministerial Address: WTA Chair Chris Osborne opened the conference by giving a summary of
the current activity being undertaken by WTA including reference to the Industry Policy submission
made to the Tourism Sector Panel. He said the Alliance was delighted to welcome the Minister for
Business, Enterprise Technology and Science, Edwina Hart AM to the conference for the first time
and stressed the continuing importance of tourism to the Welsh economy.
Mrs Hart urged the delegates to show more confidence in promoting the nation positively to visitors.
Mrs Hart also revealed a mission to create a new brand for Wales and her aversion to red tape
hindering business development.
“We have to be a much more confident nation in what we do in terms of tourism,” she said. “The vast
majority of visitors that come to Wales have an excellent experience. We have an awful lot to offer in
Wales at any time of the year, yet we talk far too much about the weather.”
She urged tourism marketers to compile an A-Z alphabet of exciting things to do in Wales throughout
the year and declared an aversion to red tape from the UK Government and Europe and said the
Welsh Government was looking to make it easier for businesses in Wales to succeed.
“We need to understand the issues that you face when developing your businesses,” she added,
inviting feedback from businesses across Wales. “We do live in difficult economic times, but there is a
market out there that can still afford to do things and we need your feedback on where we need to
focus our attention.”
She said she was aware of planning issues faced by businesses in National Parks and some local
authority areas. “Protecting the environment is important, but at the same time we now live in a
different century and we must move on,” she added.
She also revealed that the Welsh Government was awaiting state aid approval from Europe to roll out
a programme across Wales to improve broadband and mobile phone reception, which would help
tourism businesses.
On the branding of Wales, she said: “I hope to have a report fairly shortly on the branding issue. We
are looking for an identifiable brand for the whole of Wales and how we sell ourselves across the
globe.”
Question and Answers: Steve Bristow welcomed the Minister's intention to get more views from
the trade at grassroots and hopes that government will be open to new ideas. He also raised the need
to look again at brown signage and how it differs in each area of Wales. The Minister said that Visit
Wales has done some work in this area of concern and that would continue.
Elizabeth Jeffreys raised the issue that the Brecon Beacons NP area finds it difficult working with multi
agencies with their own agendas, policies and interests. It does not help when applying from funding.
It is difficult in a fragmented public sector environment. The minister recognised that tourism was not
a core activity for local authorities and sympathised with the difficulties of working with multi agencies.
John Wilkinson asked when the rebranding report would be issued; the Minister said that the draft
report on the brand for Wales was due shortly.
A new business in Gower described how she had returned to Wales and found it challenging setting
up a business and sourcing property. She said that she would like to see more support for new
enterprises. The Minister responded by saying that we should be imaginative about property that
might be available, for example redundant churches. She added that she had discussed this subject
with Huw Lewis AM. Mrs Hart stressed the importance to look at business differently; one option is to
introduce enterprise zones similar to those in England. Finally, Mrs Hart spoke about the issue of
broadband connectivity and the importance to improve availability for all sectors of Welsh industry.
The other high profile speakers from Wales, England and Scotland included Martin Couchman, British
Hospitality Association’s Deputy Chief Executive, David Bishop, Visit Britain’s Head of Tourism
Affairs, Stephen Leckie, Scottish Tourism Association’s chair, Dan Clayton Jones, Welsh Government
Tourism Sector Panel chair, broadcaster Trevor Fishlock, Ieuan Evans of Nominet and Adrian
Greason-Walker, WTA Executive Director.
Martin Couchman, BHA gave an overview of current draft legislation where BHA is challenging on
behalf of the trade. The BHA put forward a case to Westminster government not to proceed with
putting 'scores on the doors' into UK legislation. He raised several concerns about the Food Hygiene
Bill in Wales and its potential impact on the Welsh economy
1 in 8 jobs are in tourism in Wales. It is important to sustain jobs and increase the number in tourism.
‘Business in the Community’ launched 'The Big Conversation' in England where industry leaders in
the hospitality sector, discuss ways that more jobs can be generated and importantly apprenticeships.
Pledges have been received from larger companies to offer apprenticeships. The scheme is going to
tour the country.
The industry needs to reinvest to be successful. The Enterprise Investment Allowance was reduced
by the Labour government; BHA would like to see an increase in the current rate. The reduction of
VAT on accommodation and the benefits to the economy have been demonstrated to Westminster
government. BHA repeated the calculation using a Treasury model which came to similar
conclusions. Talks were progressing, but John Penrose lost his job in the last reshuffle. BHA hopes to
continue with the talks with the new Minister. It hopes that the government will be able to find £1.2bn
in their budgets to invest in the proposal
A BHA report identified 60 recommendations and presented to government on deregulation.
He acknowledged that these examples affected pan UK, but there were lessons to learn in Wales. For
example in England no smoking signs now do not have to comply with certain dimensions/style etc
which gives businesses some flexibility. In Wales this has not changed.
David Bishop, Visit Wales stated that by 2020, Visit Britain was aiming to attract 40 million overseas
visitors a year who would spend £31.5 billion - an increase of £9 billion on current spending - creating
131,000 jobs. The USA and Germany remained the largest markets for Britain, but were shrinking,
whereas visitors from Norway, Australia, Italy, Holland, China and Saudi Arabia were increasing.
Andrew Woodward from FarmStay raised that these figures have coincided with a reasonable
exchange rate position. However with a weaker British economy the ambitious targets will be more
difficult to achieve. David responded by saying that we need to treat each market, 22 in total
individually. Each will have a different set of economic factors some with more potential growth than
others. Paul Edwards described how in Ceredigion they had started a new tourism association. He
asked should they be promoting Ceredigion more in the Welsh home market. David said that the
home market was important, but it was crucial that they should be promoting in a combination of
markets.
Stephen Leckie of the Scottish Tourism Alliance showed the delegates how the revitalised ‘Alliance’
is working with the Scottish trade to make a real difference. He and the STA board recognised that
they needed new young blood to lead the industry and participate in change. He suggested that
Wales needs to do the same!
Workshop Sessions: Four workshop sessions were held with questions posed to prompt lively
debates which followed in each. Feedback from the groups with the main points from the discussion
prompted by the questions below:
Training Workshop: Facilitator - Phil Raynsford; Supporter - Bryan Roderick
Q1: What training does the industry actually want and need?
Q2: What is wrong with the training on offer to us now?
Q3: Whose responsibility is it to invest in developing our people?
Barriers to training

Access difficult in some rural area, e.g. difficult to find provision in Powys due to logistics.

Sometimes provision not found in Wales. Example given of sending two staff to Birmingham for
revenue training as it could not be found in Wales.

Seasonality and general high turnover of staff discourages some employers from training

Individuals themselves have to have the ‘life’ skills e.g. the foundation of the right attitude, ability
to communicate, work ethic etc before they can be trained. Many people don’t have this

A ‘grant culture’ can discourage training; employers may not train if there are no grants available
as in the past there has been a lot of funding on offer

Some people are confused about the wide number of programmes and qualifications that are
available

Flexibility (or inflexibility) of availability, type, time and location. The lack of bite size chunks of
learning being available for existing staff was used as an example.

Employers do not often recognise the business benefits of training their staff.

Parity between academic and vocational qualifications.

Managing expectations – quite often new employees will have learnt the theory but would not
have got their ‘hands dirty’.

The time taken to develop, approve and fund new solutions.

Sector perception by individuals, parents and careers advisors.
Considerations

Why not turn things around, instead of asking what training our industry needs, put the customer
at the heart and ask what the customer wants from the experience – that will then dictate the
training need.

Training is a journey, we need to focus on continued professional development not just a one off
training intervention

Can't just promote someone, e.g. to supervisor, without giving them the right level of help and
support

Training that is demand-led works better. Example of Gallu and Medryn initiatives providing
training to meet local needs.

Question as to why the education system offers courses where there are no or very few jobs.
When training is funding-led e.g. developed to meet funding it may not work as well

Do NVQs have any value?

Training needs to be flexible, able to be delivered to organisations of different sizes and needs




Employer organisations - Would be excellent if we could unite everyone behind a co-ordinated
strategy so that everyone can play a part
How can we create a business environment where people cannot afford not to train?
How do we professionalise the industry?
We need to add a module or unit on enterprise and entrepreneurialism to existing programmes
which would give an insight to running a business.
(Following are from People 1st research)

Many organisations don’t have a business plan and so can’t plan training and have the time to
identify what training is needed to make the necessary business changes

The focus is always on training, not on learning. Perhaps we need to help staff plan and take
responsibility for their own career paths (uksp is designed to help do this for example)

If we purchase a new computer system time and effort is put into understanding it, what it can do,
value for money etc. Yet this does not happen with training. Should we view training as an
investment alongside any other?
Who should have responsibility for training staff?

Employers

Learners – for their own development

Government – better trained staff give a better Welsh Welcome and this leads to more visitors to
Wales
Marketing Workshop: Facilitator - Lucy von Webber; Supporter – Jonathan Jones
Q1: How can we better market Wales to attract higher spending visitors?
Unclear as to whether this was at the expense of other visitors and it was felt that the aspiration
should be to optimise all spending rather than being too exclusive. Marketing Wales’ as a Quality
destination (at whatever price scale) is vital but must be underpinned by development and training
activity to ensure that the message can be given confidently.
Give people the opportunity to spend more, stay longer, move around and marketing activity should
showcase these opportunities. “Today’s lower spending visitors could be tomorrow's higher spending
visitors”
Wales is “bad“ at packaging in simplest form – i.e. rather than a package holiday extreme we should
be making it simpler for visitors to book and plan a variety of things during their stay and marketing
could highlight this simplicity without compromising “independent“ booking preferences.
E.g. Caravan and Camping Club say that they work hard to display the variety and breadth of what
locations in Wales have to offer (attractions etc.) to ensure that visitors book.
Key elements:
1. “We” should all be looking at how Wales is marketing itself “ collectively” and the role that
private and third sector organisations play (e.g. from self catering agencies to National Trust)
and how these messages support each other and where they sit in customer life cycle in
context of communications (i.e. attracting/converting/ retaining)
2. Think laterally and ensure that marketing is empowered to fully use build on other
departmental work streams such as food/creative industries/movie locations/major events e.g.
Red Bull coverage worldwide following MEU assisted Cliff Diving competition. I.e. “give” the
product to marketing to use for overall Wales message
Q2: How can we attract a higher percentage of overseas visitors?
Extremely difficult to get any consensus on whom and when…suggestions ranging from highly niche
(e.g. Methodism in USA) to so broad it would be hard to make a dent without sufficient time and
money resources (e.g. German market as they enjoy walking)
Resolved that, obviously due to spend per head, overseas market is valuable and that one way it
could be handled cost effectively is by building on general stories that have resonance when they
present themselves (e.g. Film locations for USA market, Swansea Premiership for Danish market)
Lack of “simple” packaging can become even more of an issue for some overseas markets and
obvious issues around tour operators struggling to contract with industry and general, seeming lack of
clarity over what is required by incoming operators.
Accessibility – we need to acknowledge that any marketing must be viewed realistically in context of
limitations of infrastructure and accessibility e.g. air and rail links.
Again, enhanced marketing around “international” events should be planned in e.g. maximising
exposure given by events such as Ironman Wales.
Q3: How can we ensure that a provision is in place for recovery marketing campaign e.g.
floods in Mid Wales this summer?
General consensus was that “recovery” marketing title was negative and this should be “tactical”.
Absolutely critical that budget and general resources are identified for this purpose to ensure
maximum exposure of positive news and activity (events/Premiership/movie locations etc.) as well as
ensure damage limitation and turnaround of situations for industry (such as that which occurred post
floods).
Key element:
Ad hoc circumstances, as well as being on occasion a threat, can sometimes bring the greatest
opportunities for tactical marketing. Budget/resource allocation should be available to ensure all
these are optimised as and when they occur.
Product Development Workshop: Facilitator - Dan Clayton-Jones: Supporter – Paul
Donovan
Q1: What do our customers want?
Need to engage the Digital market. Linked to Tourism development of the future, it is important to
include our children. Destination management is crucial. Emphasise that Wales is a safe destination.
Better visitor information and it needs to be contextualised with a contemporary approach.
Branding transport needs to take place alongside other transport issues such as developing the
linkages. Need much more joined up thinking and action, a culture change. Attention to Heritage and
facilities.
Q2 How can we influence financial institutions (Banks) to be more supportive of developments
within the tourism industry and be more flexible with loan repayments etc – this may not be
relevant as far a VW are concerned but is for businesses
Help people with their business plans; need fresh money and incentives; positive attitude; soft loans/
Finance Wales; emphasis on sustainability and a real focus on SMEs.
Q3 How can we maintain quality in the midst of recession where our customers are looking at
value for money?
Customer service; comparing Welsh value for money with competitor destinations. Emphasis on
cleanliness and the need to connect with local services. Communication is important. Ensure we truly
do go that extra mile. Relationship – quality and value for money. Ownership; using data more
effectively; engage destination partnerships.
Industry Policies Workshop: Facilitator: John Walsh-Heron; Supporter: Steve Webb
What is the best way to engage the industry in the new tourism strategies?
Conversation and on-going dialogue via WTA. Use existing channels i.e. associations; databases;
social networking. Use focused consultation: brief and simple; although not all issues are simple and
easy to communicate. The new strategy needs to be differentiated from the ‘normal’ consultation. The
industry needs to be made aware that this is of particular importance to them all by WG. Focus on the
5 Ps: Product; price; place; promotion and people
Do we need to be clearer and more focused on particular issues in specific areas or to specific
businesses?
Yes – especially infrastructure; the format for delivering the message needs to be as easy to digest as
possible use of social media e.g. YouTube. Need to look at where the power lies and who needs to be
empowered on an ongoing basis. Importance of delivery through partnership. Team GB was a good
example of how you can empower people
How do we get more out of the political arena by putting more in?
By demonstrating to the tourism community that by putting more into, for example, research they get
benefits. A selling job required to get micro businesses on board, however no point in chasing those
who don’t want to or will never engage.
The conference was attended by 120 delegates.
Finally many thanks to all who attended and to our sponsors Nominet and Bibendum Wines.
Wales Tourism Alliance
9th November 2012