THE NEW 2017/18
WREXHAM TOURISM PASSPORT LAUNCHES
New membership scheme also in place for tourism businesses in the County Borough...
The new ‘This Is Wrexham’ Tourism card launches this summer and is designed to offer visitors to the area exclusive discounts that will aim to encourage a prolonged stay in the County Borough.
Following examples of similar tourism cards elsewhere in the UK, the new card will be trialled from early July through to next Easter and will be available (£10 at time of writing) from various attractions, restaurants and accommodation providers across Wrexham.
To be featured on the card listing, businesses will need to become a member of the new ‘This Is Wrexham’ tourism scheme that will launch at an event on 30th June. There will be other local tourism businesses in attendance and opportunities to meet local producers, chat with Business Wales and meet other businesses who have benefitted from the rise in tourist visits in recent years.
This new Membership scheme is being administered by the ‘This Is Wrexham’ Partnership. It is a private sector-led group made up of 20 key leaders from established tourism venues across the County Borough - formerly known as the Destination Wrexham Partnership.
Explaining the new changes, current Chair of the Partnership Peter McGivern said;
“The main difference is that the group is now set up to be financially independent of the Local Authority and going forward, there are more tourism support grants that the Partnership can access as a private sector led group. The Partnership will also be set-up to administer the new Memberships from local businesses.
“Our tourism card will aim to support the businesses that invest in a quality visitor experience, whether that is through the welcome, the standard of food they offer or the commitment they make to ensuring that every guest has a great time. This first year is seen by ourselves as a trial – but we’re confident that this can work and generate some initial funds to compliment the tourism work of the Local Authority.”
“Much of the current vibrancy in Wrexham’s tourism sector has been achievable through financial grant support from Welsh Government for the Wrexham Tourism Ambassador Scheme. However, we always knew that this wouldn’t be a finite resource and that the funding was to establish a strong network of tourism businesses in Wrexham County - which I know we now have.”
Adding that the Local Authority was still committed to tourism – Destination Manager Joe Bickerton said;
“It’s really positive to see this ambition from the Partnership and the Local Authority are still fully committed to developing the tourism economy even further. Key officers will continue to work alongside the Partnership to advise, develop & promote Wrexham County Borough as a place to visit, stay and invest. We’re also starting to develop a new 2017-20 Destination Management Plan for the County Borough and despite cutbacks, have retained our Tourist Information Centre and a diverse events programme throughout the year focussed towards attracting new visitors.”
The ‘This Is Wrexham’ scheme will have two levels of membership starting at just £200 and is open to all accommodation providers, attractions, restaurants, pubs, cafes and farm shops using local produce.
To find out about the new scheme and the card, a launch event is being held at 10.00am on FRIDAY 30th JUNE at Redwither Tower on the Wrexham Industrial Estate. Businesses can register via the following link and find out more about the membership levels;