What is the South West Wales Tourism Partnership?

The South West Wales Tourism Partnership (SWWTP) is charged with the successful implementation of the regional strategy for tourism – ‘Open All Year’, a programme of action that aims to address effective seasonal spread of tourism sustainably, both economically and environmentally, in line with the national strategy for tourism, ‘Achieving Our Potential’.

In the last year the Wales Spatial Plan (WSP) and it’s Tourism Opportunities Action Plans(Swansea Bay and Pembrokeshire Haven) for the region have increasingly guided SWWTP’s business planning in the context of the above.

Now entering its seventh year of operation, the SWWTP is the Regional Tourism Partnership (RTP) serving South West Wales.

The Wales Tourist Board (WTB), now Visit Wales (VW), initiated the formation of four RTPs across Wales in 2002 to receive devolved resources and responsibilities for many aspects of tourism marketing and development.

Established in shadow form in September 2001 and formally constituted as a ‘not for profit’ Company Limited by Guarantee in April 2002, the SWWTP region is co-terminous with the South West Wales Economic Forum area. The SWWTP works in partnership with Visit Wales, other Assembly Sponsored Public Bodies, Local Authorities, the private sector and other organisations with an interest in tourism.

Partnership activities include marketing, product investment and development and business support activities on behalf of the tourism industry. Most of the above activities are delivered under contract by third parties as the organisation was formed to be strategically focussed rather than directly operational. The SWWTP has a small executive team of staff who operate under strict running costs to plan, manage and monitor the delivery of these activities and who report to a Management Board comprised of public and private sector members. The Board is relatively small, 12 Directors plus the Regional Strategy Director, but the constitution of SWWTP allows for the formation of sub-groups to concentrate on particular aspects of the work – a demonstration of SWWTP’s commitment to partnership working.

In the last year with a total turnover in excess of £1m, £8 of every £10 received in core funding from the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG), via Visit Wales, was spent directly on projects and organisations with the aim of developing and supporting tourism in the South West Wales region and fulfilling national, regional and local economic objectives.

What is SWWTP’s status and structure?

SWWTP is a "not-for -profit" Company Limited by Guarantee. Every 3 years elections open to all with an interest in tourism are held across the region to choose one-third of the industry representatives. Local Authorities nominate their representatives. The Directors invite Visit Wales and other key partners to attend their meetings. The Board is relatively small – 12 Directors plus the Regional Strategy Director – but the constitution of SWWTP allows for the formation of sub-groups to concentrate on particular aspects of the work – a demonstration of SWWTP’s commitment to partnership working.

The SWWTP works within strict running cost limits and so its core staff is limited to 3.5 (Director, Project Officer, Office Manager and Admin Officer (pt time) ). The SWWTP acts as an enabling and commissioning body, working through others to deliver its objectives.

Where are the SWWTP’s financial resources coming from?

Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) via Visit Wales provides the core funding for SWWTP which together with other identified resources give a budget of approximately £1m. Partnership working with tourism businesses, government agencies, local authorities and other stake holders add significantly to this figure.

How will the SWWTP know it is succeeding?

All activity is closely monitored. SWWTP activity is regularly reviewed at formal meetings and reports to Visit Wales, Local Authority partnerships and Trade Association networks.

STEAM (Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor) and national survey data, together with evaluation and monitoring linked to marketing campaigns are used to measure trends against the strategy target of 17% growth per annum in tourism expenditure and to benchmark South West Wales against other destinations.

Targets are set for individual projects from training to marketing based on leverage for both investment and return on expenditure incurred. Conversion and tracking studies are built into activity.

How does SWWTP communicate?

The SWWTP is not a trade membership body itself but is supporting and assisting with development and enhancement of the trade network in the region. Formal communication channels are established with key public, private and voluntary stake holder organisations. SWWTP maintains an information website and issue regular bulletins.

SWWTP took a decision to minimise expenditure on corporate public relations and instead works with our partners to disseminate news and opportunities, thus retaining core funding for direct project dissemination.

What are Regional Tourism Partnerships?

Four Regional Tourism Partnerships (RTPs) were established in Wales in 2001, coterminous with the four regional economic fora areas. The RTPs main role is to lead the implementation of the regional tourism strategies which seek to improve the competitiveness and performance of their respective regions. The underlying aim of all four regional tourism strategies is to ensure that tourism makes a better contribution to the social and economic prosperity of not only the individual region but Wales in general.

RTPs work in partnership with Visit Wales (formerly Wales Tourist Board), local authorities, the private sector and with other organisations with an interest in tourism. Partnership activities include marketing, product investment and development and business support activities on behalf of the tourism industry. Most of these activities are delivered under contract by third parties. The RTPs have small executive teams of staff who plan, manage and monitor the delivery of these contracted activities and who report to a Management Board comprised of public and private sector Directors.

Visit Wales devolves funding to the 4 RTPs to support the essential, strategically led activities that they deliver and works closely with the RTPs to ensure that duplication is avoided and to ensure that scarce resources are used effectively for the benefit of the tourism industry and economic health of Wales.

The four RTPs (Capital Region Tourism – covering south east Wales, Tourism Partnership Mid Wales, Tourism Partnership North Wales and the South West Wales Tourism Partnership) are accountable for the funds devolved to them by Visit Wales which agrees the RTPs annual Business plans, receives quarterly progress reports and monitors the RTPs performance against agreed targets.