Anglsey hotels join others in North Wales for new tourism vision

Jan 7 2009 by Elgan Hearn, Holyhead and Anglesey Mail

Treysgawen

ANGLESEY hotels have joined forces with others across North Wales to bring a new vision to the region’s tourist industry.

Tre-Ysgawen Hall near Llangefni and Trearddur Bay Hotel have joined forces with Soughton Hall Hotel near Mold and The Quay Hotel and Spa at Conwy, to become the founding members of the North Wales Hotel Group which was launched on Monday.

The move comes following concerns that not enough is being done to support the tourist industry outside of a few towns such as Rhyl and Llandudno.

The group are pooling their skills and experience to drive business and visitor numbers up for rural areas.

They have already been developing a collective promotional campaign, comprising brochure, website and internet marketing, attracting visitors from across the UK, as well as abroad.

Statistics from Visit Wales show that there was a drop of -7.28% in visitor numbers for 2007 compared to 2006.

Neil Rowlands, managing director of Tre-Ysgawen Hall Hotel, said: “These distressing facts show that despite being the largest employment and financial sector in North Wales, regional tourist initiatives are failing to provide enough support to drive the revenue back into Wales, thereby threatening jobs, as well as economic stability, across the region.

“Visit Wales have had their budget slashed and are concentrating on boosting Rhyl and Llandudno, they can’t spread funding any thinner.

“The rural areas where we are based, Capel Coch, Trearddur Bay, Deganwy and Mold are being overlooked.

“We are bringing together the databases of four hotels which means around 25,000 e-mail addresses so that we can market ourselves directly.

“Many of the tourists come from the North West, from the Liverpool, Manchester and Chester areas and we are trying to reach out and get these people to take another look at what else North Wales has to offer.”

Mr Rowlands added: “Obviously we’re all going to be marketing ourselves individually.

“We will be going to the Cheshire Agricultural Show and we’re also looking to get ourselves into Cheshire and Lancashire Life magazines and will be inviting journalists down to see what we have to offer.

“I’ve worked alongside Anglesey County Council on tourism strategy and they have been great, very pro-active but this campaign is for rural North Wales.”

The first events that the North Wales Hotel Group are attending include CONFEX and the World Travel Trade fair in Dublin. The group will also be looking to expand throughout 2009 to include other tourism partners that wish to strengthen the product offering for North Wales.

elgan.hearn