Flying the flag for adventure in Wales

Visit Wales will be taking Wales’ adventures to London later this week as the Telegraph Outdoor Adventure & Travel Show gets underway at ExCel London from 11-14 February.

This is the largest outdoor activity holiday exhibition in the UK. The 2015 event attracted 50,271 visitors over 4 days, and presents an ideal opportunity for Visit Wales to attract people to Wales during Year of Adventure 2016.

Visit Wales will be accompanied by two regional partners – South West Wales and North West Wales which will have information at hand on activity holiday products in their area.  In addition, Visit Wales is also Sponsoring the Air to the Throne Mountain Bike display area. BMX and mountain bike riders will be hosting demos and introducing Air to the Throne, a 2 day invitational competition featuring 30 of the worlds best freestyle mountain bike riders, battling it out for a €10,000 prize pot.

Visit Wales will be working very closely with Mountain Bike Wales in this area of the show who will re-launch the mbwales.com web-site which has had funding through Visit Wales Tourism Product Innovation Fund in order to attract further interest in Mountain Biking for 2016.

Mountain Biking is one of Wales’ key strengths as an adventure destination and the Welsh Government,  through the EU-funded Environment for Growth programme, has made a significant investment in mountain biking product development, such as Bike Park Wales UK’s first large scale commercial bike park and features trails catering for all levels of ability.  Since opening in 2013, BikePark has attracted 150,000 of visitors and now employs 35 staff.

Attending consumer travel shows is part of marketing activity linked to the latest Visit Wales marketing campaign which includes television and cinema advertising in the UK and Republic of Ireland, and Visit Wales’s first ever programme of cinema advertising in Germany.

Visit Wales and its regional partners will also be flying the flag for adventure in Wales at the Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show (23-28 February) at the NEC in Birmingham.  Visit Wales will accompany Visit Pembrokeshire at the show for ‘Wales day’ on 24 February where visitors will have the chance to hear from Maria Leijertsam – one of the ambassadors for Year of Adventure 2016.  There will also be an opportunity to taste Welsh produce on the BBQ by Mike Ramsden and Nathan Davies.

The eye catching stand will feature three inter-connected yurts, a dragon design tipi, two classic VW camper vans, a Lotus Bell Tent, a Bubble Tent and a timber pod – giving a glimpse of the type of accommodation which can be found in Wales.

Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism, Ken Skates, said:

“Spreading the word about our adventure products and showing people what we have to offer in Wales at these high profile consumer shows is an excellent way of raising Wales’ profile.  At the beginning of our Year of Adventure these shows give us an excellent opportunity to speak to people who are looking for adventure and give them compelling reasons to visit Wales during 2016.”