 25.2.04
UWA Tourism Management degree students spent the day in Machynlleth town
centre on Thursday 12 February doing background research on the area's
tourism projects to help them develop their own proposed tourism marketing
plans for the area.
12 third year students, accompanied by Tourism Lecturer and writer Ray
Youell, visited Dyfi Valley community regeneration company, ecodyfi, to
speak with Tourism Officer Teresa Walters and volunteer Thea Platt about
what local tourism providers were doing to market the area to their visitors.
Various projects were discussed including activity tourism marketing,
mountain biking and walking promotions and local shopping initiatives.
Teresa and Thea explained how these depended on support from the Machynlleth
Chamber of Trade and a great many local providers, as well as on funding
from the Welsh Development Agency, the Tourist Board, the local authorities
and other sources.
The group - including some who had not previously been to Machynlleth
- also visited local attractions Celtica and the Centre for Alternative
Technology, and called in on Will Lloyd Butchers to find out whether visitors
liked to buy locally produced meat. The answer was "yes - definitely!"
"Although the students are using the information they've gathered for
final year assignments, we hope that some of their ideas will be developed
into real marketing plans by ecodyfi and the tourism providers they work
with" said Ray.
Teresa agreed that "if the ideas are good, we'll certainly make the most
of them!"
|
