Wales Outdoors Asked To Be Listed On Wales Local Authority Tourism Websites

And this was the result...

Getting your business promoted in Wales is not straightforward. You need time, tenacity, sometimes money and certainly an ability to see the humorous side of things. Wales Outdoors has never much wanted promotion through authority websites or indeed to be a member of a tourism association but as our argument with the Welsh Government rages on a plan to improve Wales Outdoors exposure was developed, and this included getting quality links into the Wales Outdoors website and so exposing visitors to Wales to the wonderful programme of events that we deliver each year.

We will list the authority, association or website that we approached with the outcomes. We detail this to show the gargantuan effort that is required to gain a simple legitimate listing for the promotion of a tourism business in Wales. This effort to be listed began on October 13th.

Red - No Listing

Black - I have a listing/membership but it was an onerous task

Blue - Plain sailing

The cost in time, both in the actual doing and the headspace required that these hurdles littering the path to success, that tourism businesses must leap over, ought surely to be seen by all tourism professionals in Wales as, at the least, a brake on growth. For many, the effort is too great and they will give up trying.

Anyways, here is the list which in the main is a sorry tale of unrequited love, with Wales Outdoors loving Wales and the local authorities and some membership associations seemingly intent upon delivering a curated limp lettuce leaf of a Wales sales pitch. Those portals listed below that are linked out to the Wales Outdoors page on their respective sites are, to date, those that have live listings and so are a Wales tourism success story!

Tourism Associations

I have applied for membership of four Tourism associations. These are the results:

North Wales Tourism / Amazing communication, speedy onboarding and the most active and effective tourism association in Wales. Events listed within a couple of days and they’ve even run a promotion for me across their social media.

Mid Wales Tourism / In stark contrast to the wonderful NWT they are not an independent membership association and they lie to prospective members. Wales Outdoors will not join MWT unless there is an apology and explanation.

Brecon Beacons Tourism / Yay! BBT have a new executive director and she has taken on board the Wales Outdoors request (first suggested perhaps 10 years ago with several reminders sent) to abolish the two-tier member rate, with members without a national park address being charged double. We were never going to agree to that. So, as of Feb ‘24 we are members of BBT. Listings hopefully to follow.

Caerphilly Tourism Association / It took many emails and a complaint broadcast on LinkedIn and Facebook messaging to the local authority to receive, a month after the submission of my application, a response. it appears there is a communication issue between the association and the local authority. Wales Outdoors is now a member of CTA but will need to wait for a new website to be built for a listing.

Local Authorities

• 7 of the 17 portals contacted in 2023 said they were in the middle of building a new website

• 4 do not have a tourism portal for provider listings

• 10 said no they will not list Wales Outdoors as we are based out of their area, this despite Wales Outdors/Wales Guided Tours offering hundreds of in area events and a pick up service from within area.

I have applied for listings on 17 local authority tourism websites where Wales Outdoors and Wales Guided Tours are particularly active, delivering award winning events to tourists to Wales and through a live booking system. These are the results:

Cardiff / Responsive, friendly and helpful, but then it is £400 plus VAT per year… Cardiff is one of the few local authority portals that charges for listings, and it’s not cheap. However, there is no meaningful networking as member meetings are only twice yearly and there are no member portals or groups. Requests for a newsletter inclusion offering free spots on my events to Cardiff businesses and their staff have to date not been actioned. Events are kind of up and visible to me but at this time they are not visible to anyone searching the site. I’ve asked the Cardiff team to look into this… Unless things improve it is unlikely that I’ll be renewing next year.

Conwy / Amazing, form submitted and listing generated. Thank you, Conwy!

Carmarthenshire / Listing approved after submitting the form twice and a few emails chasing.

Monmouthshire / email sent 13/10/23 at Monmouthshire CC’s request with multiple follow-ups and despite multiple promises that Wales Outdoors will be listed, that never happened. Formal complaint made 20th January and my listing was then live in two hours… The listing is near impossible to find unless searching by date…

Vale of Glam / NO as the Wales Outdoors office is not in the Vale of Glam despite a commitment to pick up from two locations in the Vale.

Blaenau Gwent / NO as the address is out of area despite tours in the county and pick up possible. Their portal serves up nothing walking or tour to the visitor.

Torfaen / NO as the address is out of area despite tours in the county and pick up possible.

Gwynedd / email sent 1st November 2023. They require a Gwynedd address to gain a listing, so for the time being, NO.

Caerphilly / Despite living in the county, completing the details online and sending in my images these were not passed on to the management group for Caerphilly Tourism Association. Lots of chasing by email and phone and only diligence and persistence on my part achieved membership. Still no listing following submission of details in mid December.

Anglesey / No response. Multiple follow ups delivering tumbleweed. So, it’s a NO.

Merthyr / email sent 1st November 2023 and 17 emails on we are no further forwards, so it’s a NO. This despite walks in the county and pick ups from multiple locations in the county available.

RCT / email sent 1st November 2023 and 32 emails and one zoom meeting on we are no further forwards, so it’s a NO. This despite hundreds of walks in the county and pick ups from multiple locations in the county available.

Swansea / Responded immediately with a big NO. Swansea Council do not list businesses with in area provision but with an office address that is out of area despite the local authority tourism portal being financed by national, UK government funding.

Bridgend / No progress made as no response from the local authority. So it’s a NO.

Newport / email sent 1st November 2023 - they will contact me when the new website is built… I’ve heard that before…

Neath Port Talbot / Managed by Visit Swansea Bay, the Swansea Council site, and so once again, despite me bringing in thousands to this county each year, a big NO…

Powys / email sent November 2023. No response. However, Powys does not have a tourism portal that lists any tourism providers. It does have a portal of platitudes that is useful to no one. So we decided to get listed on the privately owned Visit Powys site.

Visit Wales

Enough said about Visit Wales and the insanity reigning supreme within this government department. Details about why Visit Wales will not list Wales Outdoors can be found here and do search out the many posts detailing the Wales Outdoors campaign to have Visit Wales work to their own rules. Today I have sent my complaint to the Ombudsman for Wales and further I am involved in the review of the current protocols for allowing guides to list their business on the Visit Wales platform. It’s fair to say I am not too hopeful for any sensible outcomes.

Visit Britain

Visit Britain does list my events but after submitting several new products for 2024 on 1st December 2023, through the lauded TXGB platform, my products are still not live. I had a meeting with Visit Britain staff yesterday and they will begin to list a couple of events but they said they are too busy and will look to getting the rest on perhaps in a few months tim By which time, likely the end of April, I will have missed out on very many bookings…

In Conclusion

This is what we, as tourism providers, are up against. A fractured approach to selling Wales with multiple opportunities to sell, via an enormous amount of portals, sadly missed.

I would like to see four regional portals, and that's it. Nothing else. Think of the savings, the clarity for the potential visitor and the amazing web experience that could be achieved with pooled resources. No more council sites, Visit Wales simply being a magazine that points to the regional sites and the four regions delivering everything that is on offer through a live booking platform.

Tell me I'm wrong and why or begin your voicing of such a simple promotion solution for tourism in Wales.

You can book our walks through the Wales Outdoors Website or, if you are a group, you can book us for a bespoke adventure, you choose the date and time, using the ‘Book Your Guide’ option.

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