Investment backed for Welsh tourism
Plaid Cymru AM and Minister for Tourism, Alun Ffred Jones, announced plans that a total of £17.4m will be invested to offer the latest digital technology for Welsh tourism projects and ensure the Welsh tourism industry benefits from the latest digital technology developments, helping businesses to offer on-line marketing, booking systems HR and finance systems.
The projects will be funded by the European Regional Development Fund (£9,213,866), Welsh government (£4,451,939) and £3,740,781 from the private sector.
Alun Ffred Jones said:
“These projects will ensure the tourism industry in Wales can get the maximum benefits from advances in technology to keep them competitive.
“Increasingly many people are going online to research, plan and book their holidays so we need to ensure tourism businesses in Wales are competitive in this area. There are many online resources we can develop that will benefit the industry as a whole.
“But this is not just about online marketing. It will also be about making the most of technology to run businesses more efficiently and ensure the industry is in a strong position to capitalise on new digital opportunities as they emerge. For example through online booking and reservation systems, databases, HR and finance systems.”
Many local towns in Wales have set up their own promotional resource, an example being the website we built for Rhayader 2000 two years ago. We offer clients online booking facilities, our content management systems provide up to date marketing and promotional features, and we provide additional promotion for our clients by featuring them on our online directories, such as Organic Wales. But we’re pleased to see the announcement of these new initiatives and hope that this will benefit local businesses. Certainly the tourism sector needs a boost after losing many of it’s Tourist Information Centres.