WALES will use the British Travel Trade Fair as the launchpad for its Homecoming Croeso Card which will give users discounts and special offers at a number of the country’s top hotels, attractions and events.
The card is a key part of the Wales Tourist Board’s Homecoming 2000 campaign which aims to persuade those with Welsh connections to pay a visit this year.
Sponsored by HSBC Bank, the complimentary card is available to anyone planning a trip to Wales. To apply, clients should contact the WTB or visit the Homecoming Web site at www.homecomingwales.com. There are 77 hotels, attractions and events participating in the scheme, including the five-star St David’s Hotel and Spa in Cardiff which is offering card holders a special weekend rate of £49 per person per night. The hotel’s usual rate is £150 per person per night.
Other participants include Anglesey Sea Zoo, Oakwood Park and the Millennium Stadium. Offers include cut-price rates and, in some cases, free entry.
The WTB stand will have a nature theme this year with particular emphasis placed on gardens to coincide with the opening of the National Botanic Garden of Wales in Carmarthenshire, southwest Wales on May 24.
The £43.3m project will be the first national botanic garden to open in the UK in 200 years.
Also launching this year at BTTF is Premier Gardens, a marketing consortium set up to package garden tours with top-class hotel accommodation.
Members of Premier Gardens who will be on the WTB stand at BTTF include the National Botanic Garden of Wales, The National Trust, Portmeirion, Welsh Historic Gardens Trust, and Welsh Rarebits Hotels.
Other partners on the Wales stand include Cardiff Marketing, Cardiff Castle, Welsh Historic Monuments, National Museums and Galleries of Wales, Pembrokeshire, southeast Wales, southwest Wales Gardens and Parklands, Mid and West Coast Wales, Ffestiniog Railways, Llamberis Project, Llandudno Hotels and Restaurants Association and North Wales Tourism.
TEAM Wales, a WTB/private sector project aimed at stimulating holiday sales to the country, will also have representatives at BTTF.
Two activity holiday specialists, Activity Wales and Cinnamon Adventures have recently joined TEAM Wales bringing the total number of companies involved in the project to nine.
key trade contacts
n Vivienne Wilfred, senior marketing executive. Tel: 029 2047 5232; fax: 029 2047 5321; e-mail: vivienne.wilfred@tourism.wales.gov.uk.
n Caroline Wilson, marketing executive (special projects) tel: 029 2047 5241, fax: 029 2047 5321.
n Beth Harris, senior business travel executive (conference and business travel) tel: 029 2047 5202; e-mail beth.harris@tourism.wales.gov.uk.
n General e-mail: info@tourism.wales.gov.uk.
n Web site: www.visitwales.com.