WIREDGOV

The report was launched by Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones at a Sustainable Tourism and Transport conference in Cardiff.

The report, which has been produced by the Sustainable Tourism and Transport task and finish group, examines the barriers that tourists face using public transport.  It also examined the challenges faced by managers in improving the attractiveness of public transport to the visitor and identified the scope within existing services and Government priorities that may help to overcome the barriers through more effective partnership working.

The main recommendations of the report include:

• providing better information to visitors on what sustainable transport options are currently available
• encouraging more local services linked to visitor attractions
• offering incentives to visitors to use public transport
• simplifying ticketing arrangements including integrated ticketing for different modes of transport
• travel planning for key visitor attractions

Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones said: 

“Tourism is vital to the Welsh economy, providing many jobs and contributing many millions of pounds to the economy.  We are keen to ensure that visitors to Wales have the opportunity to experience Wales’ coast and countryside and associated visitor attractions by sustainable means.  Reducing visitors’ dependency on the car will help reduce noise, air pollution and CO² emissions related to tourism as well as reducing congestion and disruption to local people.

“Sustainable tourism is about getting local community support and involvement in the development and management of tourism.  It’s important to ensure that tourism supports rather than detracts from the quality of life of communities that host tourism.  The recommendations contained in this report will go some way towards ensuring that as many visitors as possible are able to access Wales by sustainable means of transport.”

The recommendations in this report will now be looked at in more depth by the Sustainable Tourism Forum, who will work towards producing a more detailed implementation plan over the next year.