Holyhead proves a big hit with international cruise ship passengers
International cruise ship passengers have taken a shine to Holyhead – despite it recently being named as one of the most deprived areas in North Wales.
In November of last year Holyhead Town Centre was named as one of the poorest areas of North Wales.
The port town was ranked at 168 in a Welsh Government report, making it the most deprived areas on Anglesey.
However, according to a visitor book passengers aboard the Carnival Pride cruise ship – which visits exotic destinations around the globe – the town has proved a big hit.
Launched in 2002, the ship can carry around 2,124 passengers.
It voyages have included places such as the Western Caribbean, The Panama Canal, Central America, as well as the USA, UK and European destinations.
Market Hall
The passengers shared their views at a pop-up heritage exhibition at the town’s newly refurbished Market Hall and some enjoyed visiting the ‘old town’ area of Anglesey’s largest town.
Mike and Mona Roberts from Missouri wrote “Nice visit, nice town – lots of fun!”
The Quigley family from Michigan added: “Lovely library and town!”
Anglesey’s Deputy Leader and Economy Portfolio Holder, Cllr Carwyn Jones, said “Unsurprisingly, our beautiful island is proving to be a very popular port of call for cruise ship passengers.
“It’s important that we continue to work hard to ensure that we maximise the positive local economic benefit this has across all of our communities.”
“As well as improving the visitor experience in Holyhead, we are also actively encouraging the cruise ship tour buses to visit various destinations around Anglesey and have also arranged training for local tour guides.”
St. Cybi’s medieval church and the unusually well-preserved Roman Fort are also popular with visitors and residents.
Investment
The unique heritage assets are set for new investment proposals aimed at enhancing visitor experiences – including a new viewing platform to the north-east tower of the Fort.
Holyhead Heritage Regeneration Project Manager, Nathan Blanchard, who planned and delivered the award-winning Market Hall project, said: “It’s fantastic to be able to welcome so many international visitors to the town and the Market Hall.
“The area is so rich in history and culture, it’s great to be able to display and share this at an exhibition.”
He added, “I’d like to thank Kirsty Baker who has made this exhibition a success and local residents for providing the visitors with a warm welcome.
“The feedback we’ve received from the visitors has been incredibly positive, and we hope to arrange similar exhibitions in the future.”
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
perhap extinction rebellion should be looking at the environmental impact of cruise ships and their carbon footprint which exceeds aviation by a factor of four, with only a projected tourism benefit of £2m pet annun consolidated into a narrow tourist season is hardly going to deliver long term sustainable employment for Holyhead and Ynys Mon.
Not sure anyone is planning to do anything but enjoy this unexpected windfall and try and keep the party going.
Perhaps you should be looking at this impact of it bothers you so.
Extinction Rebellion are not a research group. They are a middle class direct action group
Plenty of research has been done on the harmful impact of these cruise linersTry wiki -Cruise ship pollution in Europe – as a starting point..Also significant socio-economic problems for the destinations they visit have been identified.
Any benefits are far outweighed by the costs of these cruise ships. They are like enormous parasites that turn up to feast on the attractions of a destination, dump their waste then quickly move on to their next host.
Thank you, but I shan’t be reading up on this particular. It’s probably valid, but it’s a battle for others to fight, not me. I have other things that concern me more, limited time and I’m horrible at multi-tasking
I assumed you were concerned as you took the time and made the effort to comment.
Holyhead & Ynys Mon are beautiful parts of Wales. So I’m not surprised both are popular areas with tourists visiting on cruise ships. But we must stop this idea that Holyhead & Ynys Mon are merely funnels to channel goods between Ireland & England and start promoting more the stunning & varied landscapes, world class beaches and amazing history to tourists so locals can benefit financially rather than suffer the indignity of being referred to as being one of the most deprived areas in North Wales like Holyhead is.
I will only add that Ynys Mon is a world heritage site on so many levels, the coastline is indeed stunning, the interior a magical land of windmills and ancient churches, the Island’s story takes some six thousand pages to tell while its geology is virtually unique. That the philistine only sees it as a nuclear dump and a pirate’s harbour is not Ynys Mon’s fault… As long as the ship’s captains maintain a vigilant watch on any form of pollution aided by shore side agencies and the excursionists provide an exciting and informative run ashore it will wet the… Read more »
Such ships should come with battery powered manoeuvring propulsion units…