The Tourism Scrutiny Inquiry Panel has completed their inquiry into Tourism entitled ‘Are we making the most of Swansea’s potential as a destination for tourists’. The report, which was presented to the Scrutiny Programme Committee on Monday 10th June, contains the conclusions and recommendations from the panel after 6 months of evidence gathering.
Why carry out this inquiry?
Tourism was chosen as a subject for scrutiny because it is one of Swansea’s key economic sectors employing over 5600 people and bringing in £333 million pounds into to the local economy.
What the Panel did?
The inquiry was carried out over a six month period and gathered evidence from a number of sources parties including:
- Providers and local business
- The public via Swansea Voices
- Users/visitors via the Annual visitor survey
- Cabinet members for Place and for Regeneration
- Representatives from Port organisations
- Professor Huw Bowen from the Copperopolis project, and
- Officers from relevant council departments
What did the Panel think?
Some key conclusions from this inquiry include:
- Tourism is and must continue to be identified as a key economic driver for Swansea
- The work that has been carried out around promoting and linking Swansea’s ‘offer’ arising from having a successful football team, is excellent…but we must not rest on our laurels
- Getting destination management planning right will be essential to improving what Swansea already has to offer the visitor. The move to develop a Destination Management Plan is a correct one.
- There is more that could be done to work with key stakeholders, including local traders and providers, in improving and developing tourism locally.
- Creating a pleasant, clean and well maintained environment is a must…making Swansea an ‘outstanding tourist destination’ is essential.
The Panels final thoughts…
The Panel felt very optimistic about the future of the tourism industry in Swansea. There are many future challenges but we are in a relatively good position to face them. We have much to offer the visitor and with the future potential of Copperopolis, the Dylan Thomas Centenary and potential for development on sites along Swansea Bay we are moving in the right direction.
The Panel would like to thank all the people who have been involved in this inquiry for their valuable input, views and ideas.
What happens now?
The panel made a number of recommendations which can be found in the final report. This will be presented to Cabinet on 25 June. Cabinet will agree or not agree each recommendation and draw up an action plan within 3 months to implement the agreed recommendations. The inquiry panel will then reconvene just for the purpose of monitoring the action plan over the course of the next 12 months.
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