The recent news that Lonely Planet
voted the 870-mile public path in Wales, which will stretch along the entire of
the country's coastline, as the world's greatest region in a best-in-travel
2012 guide is no surprise to us here at FlyCardiff.
For some time, we’ve been making the case that the
fortunes of our National Airport and the marketing of our great product to the
rest of the world are inextricably linked. The coastal path beat off
competition from the Ruta Maya in Central America and the Maritime
Provinces in Canada as the world's greatest region for its Best in Travel 2012
guide.
Earlier this year The Welsh capital came sixth in
the National Geographic Traveller list, alongside the likes of Patagonia in
Argentina and the Azores. Cardiff & Co, which promotes the city, called it
"quite an accolade". Damn right it’s a hell of an accolade and
testament to the vision and work that has gone on transforming our Cardiff in
the last 10-12 years.
So, all that needs to happen next is that the
bodies responsible for marketing Wales need to go out there and get the
tourists in. Helvetic Airways, who fly Zurich to Cardiff have been doing a
grand job selling all that Wales has to offer to their Swiss based customers
with some success.
So it rather frustrates us here at FlyCardiff that
we can’t get The Welsh Government to endorse the Delta Cardiff – New York route
deal which has been on the table since prior to the Ryder Cup last year. The
sticking point is the fact that any new route carries a large financial risk,
until it establishes itself, and that Delta would like the Welsh Government to
underwrite that risk. A feasibility study indicates that losses could be around
£1.4 million in the early years.*
You have to speculate to accumulate the saying
goes. Surely this is worth a punt. Go after the U.S. tourists, as you know
Wales has so much to offer and entice them with. For us it’s a no brainer, we
feel that the extra influx of U.S. Dollars would quickly start to make the
subsidy seem like small fry.
So go on then, First Minister and team be brave and
take a punt on the land of your fathers. It might just be the best investment
you ever made and given that today UK tourism has been given a boost after the Government
announced an extra £27 million grant for the VisitBritain organisation there is
some new money available.
*If
the Welsh Government does commit funding, it would have to skirt around EU
legislation which prevents direct funding by governments to airlines. This
could be done through money being assigned for an in-flight marketing campaign
promoting Wales or training support.
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