Promoting Tourism in Carmarthenshire

Promoting Tourism in CarmarthenshireCarmarthenshire’s tourism section is using new technology and sponsorship to develop the county’s tourist industry.

The county council is committed to improving the economic impact of the industry, which is worth around a third of a billion pounds a year and sustains the equivalent of 6,00 full-time jobs. Carmarthenshire is the sixth largest tourism area in Wales and is increasing.

A report on progress over the last year has been presented to the council’s regeneration and leisure scrutiny committee.

Marketing and tourism manager Huw Parsons said: “Our tasks are categorised into two different sectors – Destination Management and Destination Marketing.

“Destination management is about ensuring that visitors to the county have a high quality, varied and enjoyable experience, while destination marketing is about ensuring Carmarthenshire is promoted as an attractive place to visit for selected target audiences.”

Tourism officers work closely with other staff in the regeneration and leisure department. They are working on a £1.8m RDP project, Improving Tourism in Rural Carmarthenshire, delivering a £900,000 CADW grant to promote the Lords and Princes History of South West Wales, and working on a range of other grants and projects. Tourism staff also work closely with other council departments, outside organisations and tourism businesses.

The council’s tourism website has continued to have month on month growth since its launch in July 2009 with the highlight a record 122,000 visits in October 2011.

All promotional work is strategically planned to ensure all aspects work together. For example, if a story is run in a newspaper then the web link goes straight to a download on the main website and the Tourist Information Centre staff have printed material ready to send out in the post.

Web data is uploaded to Visit Wales, Visit Britain, Brecon Beacons, Valleys as well as private sector partners.

Mr Parsons added: “Successful promotion of the county does not lie solely with the county council and the increase in online technology has allowed even the smallest operator to present themselves to the greater world. Carmarthenshire has some wonderful examples of this. The county council is using its resources to add value not duplicate.”

Recent achievements include relocating Carmarthen TIC to Old Castle House, the former 1870s police station within the grounds of Carmarthen Castle. This will allow the existing staff to offer a new visitor experience as well as general information on the area.

From this Easter there is Carmarthenshire branding and leaflets in motorway service stations at Magor and Pont Abraham on the M4, Symonds Yat on the A40, Strensham South on the M5, Maidstone on the M20 and Clackett Lane on the M25.

The county’s accommodation and attractions are being advertised thanks to a partnership with Pear Media which recently bought the exclusive rights to distribute tourism material across all Roadchef Motorway Services in the UK.

As part of the deal the council’s marketing and tourism section will have prominent branding at each of these sites with their “Discover Carmarthenshire” leaflets given priority distribution.