Tourism plays an important part in Denbighshire’s economy.  In 2014 over 5 million people visited the County and the economic impact of this was nearly £428 million.  For Denbighshire as a whole, the revenue from tourism continues to show a small increasing trend, although with revenues from coastal tourism less buoyant than those from rural tourism.

The Denbighshire Tourism Growth Plan has been produced to indicate how the Council intends to increase this economic impact and the contribution tourism makes to the local economy.  Visitors make a real difference to the viability of local facilities such as town and village shops and pubs; an increase in visitor spend will help sustain these valued facilities in our communities.

The Plan aims to:

• increase visitor spend
• increase the number of people visiting the County
• increase the overall number of people employed in the tourism sector
• create more opportunities for tourism based businesses in our communities
• create more opportunities for new businesses to start ups and job creation in the County.

The Plan is organised into four distinct sections and prioritised into an Action Table giving the Council’s work on Tourism Growth a focus for the next two years. The sections are:-

Activities & Attractions.

Visitor Accommodation

Local Distinctiveness

Promoting the Area.

The current priorities are:

• To encourage the development of outdoor activity ‘packages’ where businesses work together to raise the profile of the walking, cycling, watersport and other outdoor activities and make it easier for visitors to book. Denbighshire has a wide range of outdoor activities, and this is a growing market that local businesses, including accommodation, shops and cafes, can all benefit from.
• To work with investors to rejuvenate the coastal tourism offer.
• To widen the range and improve the quality of accommodation available. The County has a high percentage of day visitors and converting some of these to overnight stays would increase the economic benefit locally.
• To focus on raising awareness of local food and drink as a key part of our quality tourism offer. Tourism is a competitive industry and to stand out in the market the offer has to be unique and Denbighshire’s wide range of independent producers help us do just that.
• All this of course needs to be promoted so the Council constantly strives to review and refresh promotional activity.

 

 

Some examples of the type of activity we undertake to deliver these priorities are:

Working with local tourism and business groups to promote the business opportunities outdoor activities such as Cycling can bring.

Engaging with local businesses and new businesses to widen the accommodation offer e.g. encouraging glamping and boutique hotel development.

Supporting local food producers such as the development of the Clwydian Range Food Trail.

Organising events such as ‘Taste for Local‘ or ‘Blas Lleol‘ in Llangollen which brought together food prodcuers and buyers from hotels, B&Bs, shops and restaurants to raise the profile of local produce.