WIREDGOV

Minister for Tourism, Edwina Hart, has announced a new way of working on a regional level within the tourism sector which will see a new regional structure set up in Visit Wales and greater regional representation on the Tourism Advisory Board. 

The new tourism strategy, ‘Partnership for Growth’ addressed the need to look at the structure of regional tourism, in order to deliver the 10% growth for the industry by 2020. Yesterday’s announcement comes following the publication of the outcomes of the consultation on Regional Engagement and Partnership Working in Tourism.  

In creating a regional team within Visit Wales, direct funding for the Regional Tourism Partnerships (RTPs) will be discontinued from September 2014.

The new structure will enable:

• Direct account management of high impact sector business partners
• Stronger links between tourism businesses and Government
• Greater regional representation on the Tourism Advisory Board
• Increased accountability of local delivery
• Simplified structure for tourism in Wales

The Minister, said:

“The announcement is an exciting opportunity for us to look again at how tourism is supported on a regional level. This new model will provide a simplified regional structure, focused on delivering Wales’ national tourism strategy - Partnership for Growth and will align with emerging priorities from the city regions, enterprise zones and other key interventions for economic growth. This change is key to facilitate partnership working and support more effective delivery of programmes and projects with increased accountability on what is being delivered on a local level. I’d like to thank the staff and board of each of the Regional Tourism Partnerships for their hard work over the last ten years.”

Links

Consultation on Regional engagement partnership structures in the tourism sector