Trams and cruise ships - The future of tourism in Conwyby David Powell, DPW West Jul 12 2011 TRAMS, cruise ships and seagull-proof bins are all part of a major masterplan to revitalise tourism in an area where the industry is worth £600m.
Councillors will today be asked to back a “Destination Conwy” action plan aimed at drawing in visitors to spend money in the county.
One of the key proposals is to commission a feasibility study into whether it is possible to bring back traditional style trams to the county’s resorts.
The idea is they could be used by commuters and tourists, although no proposed routes have yet been decided.
The plan also wants a study to look at repairing and re-instating Llandudno Pier’s docking facility to be able to handle 700-passenger pleasure cruise ships from Liverpool and other ports. It could be used by the Waverley and Balmoral vessels, Isle of Man boats or coastal cruises, but Llandudno couldn’t take the large liners which berth at Holyhead.
Another task is to fit bird proof flaps to all litter bins and promote a “Do Not Feed the Seagulls” publicity campaign, in a bid to clean up the streets. Other schemes include improving the urban “evening economy”, and promoting the county’s “All The Little Shops” project to boost retailers, scrapping eyesore buildings, sprucing up public toilets in Llandudno, Conwy and Betws y Coed, and devising a register of approved street performers.
The plan also aims to develop “Sport Tourism”, particularly focusing on golf, mountain biking, cycling, rugby, walking and sailing.
And it includes boosting the profile of heritage sites like Conwy Castle and the Great Orme gun site artillery centre.
If approved, Conwy will work on the changes with a 15-member steering group made up of tourism operators.
Jim Jones, Conwy’s coastal community development spokesman, said the Council wants to work in partnership with the tourism industry.
Tourism already generates £600m a year in Conwy and employs 10,820 people in a county which has 70,000 bed spaces – that’s some 24% of the North Wales stock.
Conwy now has a destination manager, George Brookes, a destination development officer and a destination marketing officer. Mr Brookes will be a point of contact between the authority, tourism operators and the public.
Another task will be to keep records of “bed availability” across the county’s hotels and B&Bs. The council wants to encourage more people to use tourism trails throughout the county and wants to see more parks and coastal reserves cleaned up to get Green and Blue Flag status. It is also planning better tourism signage and more interactive information boards to be fitted at Tourist Information Centres.
Conwy’s Cabinet will be reminded in a report today that a lack of co-ordination was highlighted by the Welsh Audit Office in 2002. Officers tried to improve but only had “limited success”. An officer’s report will say that any lack of support for tourism this year could dent “potential benefits and growth” of the £600m-a-year industry.
North Wales Tourism spokesman Chris Jackson, also administrative director of the Welsh Mountain Zoo, welcomed the plan, but added: “We would like a harmonised approach with all the local authorities in North Wales so visitors enjoy consistently high standards.”
Full PDF document is here (9mb):
http://modgoveng.conwy.gov.uk/Published/C00000171/M00002707/AI00025273/AppendixBEnglishDestinationDocument.pdf
