Destination Management Plan 2015-2018

What is Destination Management?

Destination development is about delivering a quality visitor experience on the ground which meets or exceeds expectations and which will ensure repeat visits and word of mouth recommendations.

Destination management is encouraged and supported by Visit Wales. Destinations which are well managed and developed will not only be great places to visit, but great places to live and work.

The Strategic Vision

The tourism sector has become a priority within the Local Authority, concentrating on developing its products further and upgrading the existing tourism product. The Local Authority looks at working with different key partnerships as well as developing a rapport with the local tourism businesses with a view of further enhancing their products and services whilst informing them about new and existing developments.

The 2020 vision statement for Merthyr Tydfil is:

To strengthen our position as the Regional Centre for the Heads of the Valleys area, and be a place to be proud where:

• People want to live, work and have a healthy fulfilled life
• People want to visit, enjoy and return
• People want to learn and develop skills to fulfil their ambitions.

More specifically for tourism sector, Merthyr Tydfil's Tourism Service Aims to:

• Maximise the opportunities afforded through tourism
• Establish an ethos of high quality in all tourism provisions in terms of facilities, events, infrastructure and services
• Maximise the effective use of the County Borough's tourism marketing resources
• Highlight and prioritise key sectors/areas with the potential for tourism development and growth
• Facilitate continual research into tourism activities, satisfaction methodologies and market trends in order to stay ahead of competitors
• Instill an effective networking mindset amongst the various stakeholders in the County Borough which includes tourism sector businesses, MTCBC Officers, community members and other tourism bodies.

The Action Plan

The action plan has been split into three main sections, under each of these headings broad actions have been identified which are required to make significant improvements to enhance the quality of life and in turn the visitor experience at destination:

• Marketing / publicity and perception (including marketing, research and community involvement)
• Destination Development (coordinating activities and services which impacts on the visitor and their enjoyment of the destination, e.g. transport, paths, information, public conveniences, parking etc.)
• Product Development (providing a roadmap for the development of Merthyr Tydfil's key assets)
• MTCBC will continue to deliver on the successes of the past three- years and continue to improve the Borough as a Visitor Destination, but will contribute significantly to the economic development of Merthyr Tydfil

In keeping with Welsh Government guidelines, is due for refresh in 2015/16. The Economic Development & Strategic Tourism Team has conducted a thorough re-examination of the priorities which utilised feedback gathered at the last Destination Day back in 2014. Moving forward, MTCBC will continue to deliver on the successes of the past three years and continue to improve the County Borough as a key visitor destination in Wales.