Minutes from the APPG on Tourism and Hospitality in Wales meeting on
Promoting a unique Welsh experience to Prospective new and lapsed visitors
to Wales
Wednesday 16th January 2013
Attendance:
Mark Williams MP;
Roger Williams MP
Glyn Davies MP
Guto Bebb MP
Jane Ashley (Office of Mark Williams MP)
Adrian Greason-Walker (Chief Executive, Welsh Tourism Alliance)
Apologies:
Baroness Randerson
Baroness Gale
Lord Martin Thomas
Lord Aberdare
Lord Dafydd Wigley
Lord Hunt of Wirral
Albert Owen MP
Hywel Williams MP
Baroness Finlay
Nia Griffiths MP
Martin Caton MP
Secretariat/Administration assistance:
David Chapman;
Jo Baker; (Office of Mark Williams MP)
Mark Williams – Welcomed the group and asked Adrian to begin the discussion.
Adrian Greason-Walker – Spoke to the WTA’s discussion paper. Adrian gave a
comprehensive overview of the issue and extrapolated information from a detailed
Cultural Tourism survey, adding updated information to supplement the core work
that was carried out four years earlier. He raised a number of points for discussion,
including how Wales could use its culture and other unique usps to reinforce existing
visitors, convert more enquiries into visits and attract back long lapsed visitors. He
said the research indicated there was still a set of negative attitudes underlying
visitor preconceptions and we needed, as a nation, to work on developing the
product and the promotions if we were to make real inroads into efforts to attract
them back.
Glyn Davies – related back to his time serving on both the WDA and the Wales
Tourist Board. It was his view that both organisations did a good job and that they
had a good name and reputation. Things had gone backwards since these functions
were taking into the Assembly. What does the name Visit Wales say about what
they really do? He believed it implied that there was no state funding.
Guto Bebb – Was interested in the remarks from within the survey and said that the
survey had, among other misdirected preconceptions, reflected a widely circulated
myth that Welsh people stopped talking English and start talking Welsh when tourists
come into pubs. The industry would benefit, he felt, by the use of examples of
good/best practice, exemplars, where tourism projects were really successful and
offered to other similar businesses models which were capable of being replicated.
He asked the representatives for their advice on the website, Trip Advisor, as he had
been told by people within the industry that it was harmful for businesses in his
constituency because people who appeared to be visitors or were visitors had
posted comments which were not true. How should he advise businesses to
proceed?
Adrian Greason-Walker – Said he was aware, because it had been a thorny issue
within industry for some time, the distrust of many Trip Advisor comments but
industry views were not all negative and it was a difficult issue on which to give a
definitive viewpoint. There had to be a consistency and one point that could be
helpful to maintain authenticity and standards would be that if the operator was able
to tell Trip Advisor that it could be proven that the comments were untrue, then they
should take the offending comment down.
Guto Bebb – Relating back to the projection of Welsh usps, he thought the Culinary
Food Fayre was a good form of cultural tourism and that it could really give a flavour
of a Welsh food experience. It was a good practice that should be followed.
Members discussed local food festivals that they had visited, supported and
promoted and point out the attributes of many such events across rural Wales.
Guto Bebb – Met the Sri Lankan High Commissioner who had a lot of praise for
Wales based on his experience of the Abergavenny Food Festival.
David Chapman – Food was one very important area of the tourism offer and it was
strength of tourism that it touched on virtually all Government Departments. One of
the strengths of the Cultural Tourism initiative was that it had worked hard to tie
everything in and integrate issues across departments.
Adrian Greason-Walker – Took the discussion back to the paper’s content and said
it appeared from the findings, and the research body, that Wales was struggling to
present itself as somewhere special, somewhere unique and worth visiting. In the
survey, Wales didn’t come out poorly as a destination, but despite its varied
attractions and many strong products and offers, it struggled to convey to visitors just
why it was worth a special visit. However, it was easy to be too negative about the
findings of the report and he thought it interesting that he had attended a British
Tourism Industry Group meeting on worldwide perceptions of other country
destinations that followed the Olympics and the research provided showed that the
UK came out in preconceptions in a very similar way to the attitudes directed at
Wales in its own visitor surveys. Once again, whilst scoring highly on heritage and
culture, the offer presented a good package, with good, positive feedback but
nevertheless, it was not necessarily at the top of the visitor’s list.
Jane Ashley – Wales is the closest natural wilderness to London, could use this
more? She had liked the Visit Wales latest campaign.
Roger Williams – Agreed with Jane; he felt the campaigns Visit Wales had done
were impressive, but that it was hard to be effective and convert into visitors. When
he was Chair of the National Park, he always used to say in meetings that the best
place to advertise the National Park was Paddington Station, where the catchment of
potential visitors lay. There had been no mention to date in the meeting of the
environmental consequences of increasing visitor numbers; he felt there was a real
problem between having more and more visitors to an area of outstanding beauty
and keeping hold of the real unique selling point of Wales - of it being so naturally
beautiful and unspoilt. He added that a walking tour which has started in Crickhowell
has been very popular and felt that targeted advertising from the National Parks
towards young active people might be helpful.
Adrian Greason-Walker – Added a qualification of how Wales’ culture was
perceived by the visitors that took part in the survey. He said the research showed
that Wales was seen as clearly having a definable culture, but it was seen as quite a
formal one, a higher culture, rather than, say, the Irish, popular image of a culture of
informal singing and dancing in a pub.
Jane Ashley – Think we need to sell our quietness.
David Chapman – Problem is that if you do, people can sometimes associate this
with thinking there is nothing to do. He then spoke of the combined offer to the visitor
and how there was an opportunity to make more of the various products that were on
offer and that could provided added value if “bundled” up for the visitor to enjoy. The
important role of Guides, who were ambassadors and welcomers to an area as well
as offering an interpretative service. He felt that not enough was done to build the
welcome and that many visitors were put off by the appearance and circumstances
of stations and by taxi drivers who worked from first point of contact venues.
Adrian Greason-Walker – It was also important to realise how people were
accessing information in order to get a handle on how to sell Welsh culture and
differences to them. In the last 10 years the internet, social media and smart phones
had taken a big part of this activity. People wanted to find more independent things
to do, they liked to feel they had found things out for themselves, to explore and
uncover attractions. For example...if you go somewhere great, take a photo and
post it online. We need to get everyone to feel that they are ambassadors for Wales
if we are to ensure sustained interest.
The meeting closed at 3pm