‘Wales ripe for development’: Former Conservative Senedd Member to chair tourism body
A former Conservative Senedd Member has been appointed the chair of a body that represents the tourism industry in Wales.
Suzy Davies takes over from Professor Andrew Campbell, who has spent more than three years as the chair of the Wales Tourism Alliance.
Davies previously served as Shadow Minister for Tourism, Culture and the Welsh Language and chaired the Assembly’s Cross Party Group on Tourism.
“Wales is ripe for further economic, environmentally savvy development and its visitor economy and tourism is core to that development,” she said,” she said.
“After a lifelong desire for the world to see how wonderful this country is, I am excited to be joining such committed, experienced people who want to be part of a proud and successful Wales.
“The industry has risen to the challenge of Covid magnificently, but the surge in domestic visitor numbers this year cannot blind us to the fragility of the sector’s infrastructure.
“Busy today is not the same as sustainable long term. We want the visitor economy to make a stable, balanced, desirable and valuable contribution to the nation’s collective wellbeing. Tourism, hospitality, skills providers and local authorities – and Welsh Government – all recognise the challenges and the opportunities.
“WTA is the collective voice of the industry in Wales. Failure to listen to it will mean failure to meet those challenges or to capitalise on those opportunities – and none of us wants that.”
‘Grateful’
Professor Andrew Campbell said the Covid-19 pandemic had been a “challenging time” for the industry and that he wanted to “pay tribute to all tourism businesses and agencies in Wales for displaying such resilience in the face of profound adversity”.
“My thanks also to all at the WTA for their support during the last three years, in particular the efforts of policy advocate, Adrian Greason-Walker for his valuable advice and counsel at all times.”
WTA board member, Barbara Griffiths, said: “Professor Campbell has gone above and beyond normal expectations over the last 18 months supporting the whole of the tourism industry in Wales, for which we are extremely grateful.
“We now look forward with great pleasure to working with Suzy Davies who has experience in the Senedd and whose family runs a tourism business.”
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All business in wales 🏴 must be run by welsh people living in wales 🏴
Well run tops Welsh run but they aren’t mutually exclusive! Certainly businesses should be run with an eye to helping the Welsh economy not just for creating profits for some foreign account!
So would you be happy for Welsh people living outside Wales to be banned from running businesses there? Running businesses with an eye to a role in the community and not just as rentiers extracting wealth and sending it all away is fine. Ethnic qualification (what would it be exactly?) is another thing
Forget “ethnic qualification”. That’s a loaded comment. So much of the Welsh tourist industry is externally-owned, and so much of the profits leaves Wales, that it can never be said to be of economic benefit to this country. It goes without saying that a sector of the economy that has now gained such undeserved prominence should be run by and for the people of Wales, if only to ensure that the money generated is not taken out of the country.
Glad to see that Wales is following the “Revolving Door” method of appointments, usually saved for the Westminster spivs.
Jobs for the…girls. Would it be indelicate to ask what qualifications she has, other than being a rejected Senedd member?
If she’s promoting Wales. God help us!
I’m waiting for her to suggest we use the Union Flag on Welsh produce. Say our products are Made in Britain. Oh, and lose the name Welsh and the accent. Yeah, right.
She’s got no qualification. It’s not what you know is who’s back you’ve slapped.
She certainly talks the talk. ‘environmentally savvy development’ ‘busy today is not the same as sustainable long term’. It would be nice if the WTA walks the walk too. As always only time will tell.
Tourism – what is it for, and who benefits?
Right on!
Thinks she means. Ripe for exploitation.
Not very clear reporting here. WTA is a trade association and lobbying group representing businesses and associations in tourism in Wales. They are not part of WAG or the Senedd or Visit Wales. They don’t even have to be Welsh business or trade associations but things like the UK Camping and Caravanning Club and UK Historic Houses.
Of course they are likely to choose a former politician for their lobbying purposes but in choosing a Tory they may have miscalculated.
Wales ripe for development? What, more dams to supply the SE with water. More open cast coal mines in already blighted areas of Wales with coal extracted burnt in power stations supplying the national grid. Gold prospecting in the Dolaucothi mine with any gold found going to the crown estate not Wales. Thousands more wind turbines in our national parks leaving leafy Cotwold, Kent, Cornwall, Pennines and Cumbria free so the uplands of Wales takes the burden. Anything a Tory suggests turn me bloody cold!