Counting our first Inaugural General Meeting this is our fifth AGM as we report on the fourth year of Brecon Beacons Tourism’s activity and achievements. I’m pleased to report on a year of significant progress. In my report last year I referred to the ambitions we set out in the first paper we produced for our inaugural Meeting. In that paper we expressed our concern at the lack of marketing of the Brecon Beacons and we outlined our aim for the area to be recognised as a destination in its own right. In 2010 we achieved that ambition, Visit Wales confirmed Brecon Beacons new ‘destination’ status.

This enabled Brecon Beacons Tourism to receive for the first time, core-funding to support its co-ordination work with the tourism trade, the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, Powys County Council, the eight other local authorities in the area and the three Regional Tourism Partnerships that cover the area led by Tourism Partnership Mid-Wales (TPMW).

At the start of the year, Brecon Beacons Tourism led an informal Tourism Marketing Co-ordination Group, which included the BBNPA, Powys, Monmouthshire & Carmarthen County Councils, TPMW and Capitol Regional Tourism ( CRT). The Group commissioned a new Tourism Marketing Strategy to set the direction and provide the framework to improve and strengthen future marketing of the Brecon Beacons. The strategy was completed in November and the key recommendations included:

• To appoint a PR person/agency to generate stories and push them out through traditional & on-line media and encourage travel writers to visit the Brecon Beacons.

• To develop an inspirational and comprehensive website for the Brecon Beacons area, with stimulating themes and links to commercial products.

• To Focus on Digital marketing: a digital marketing plan (covering. content development, social media, user-generated content, search engine optimisation, e-crm), needs to be developed and implemented
Visit Wales via TPMW with CRT and South West Wales Tourism Partnership (SWWTP) confirmed £25,000 to support the delivery of the Marketing Strategy recommendations. The informal Marketing Co-ordination Group was formally constituted as the ‘Brecon Beacons Marketing Co-ordination Group and BBT signed a contract to appoint and manage the PR/Digital Marketing person to undertake a programme of work on behalf of the Group. Alexandra Marr & Associate’s were appointed in November and hit the ground running. We would like to thank them for the successes they have had so far. Punch will report on the results already achieved in her report together with an update on the important work being done on developing one comprehensive website for the Brecon Beacons which will utilise the content of the both the Brecon Beacons Tourism’s and the National Park’s websites.

In October, Brecon Beacons Tourism’s commitment to ‘actively working together’ was recognised at the “National Tourism Awards for Wales’ when we were shortlisted for the Partnership Working Award
At the end of a momentous year, I must say a huge thank you to the people who have made it happen. To our architect and driving force, Punch Maughan, to Catherine Maggs for keeping our finances in order, to Julia Blazer who has joined us to give Punch much needed support and to Alison Crawshaw for her continued help and support.

And finally a big thank you to our funders Visit Wales, via the three Tourism Partnership Partnerships: Mid-Wales, Capitol Regional, and South West Wales, to the Brecon Beacons National Park’s Interreg Collabor8 project and to Powys County Council.

And last but not least to you our members, without your support, none of this would have been possible so a very big heartfelt thank you.

Attendees:
Nicola (Punch) Maughan (Director General), Elizabeth Jefferys (Chair), Anna Heywood (Drover Holidays), Catherine Maggs (Treasurer), Idris Jones (Pen-y-Dre Farm), Sue Collins (Ty Gwyn B&B), Peter Williams and Alison Kidd (The Prospectory), Mark Lloyd (Monmouthshire County Council), Martin Cooke (Powys County Council), Jeff Calligan (Mountain and River Activities), Mark Soanes (Call of the Wild), Francis Lawson (YHA), Andrew Fryer (Wern Watkin), Mike Smith (Black Mountain Activities), Hilary Lipscombe (Old Rectory Barn), Laura Miles (Felin Fach Griffin), Sharon Birch (Glasbury House OEC), Sheila Jenkins (Cantref Coach House Cottage), Annie Lawrie (BBNPA), Donna Baldwin (The Retreat), Ceri James (Powys CC), Ryan Thomas Llangorse Multi Activity Centre), Peter Williams and Alison Kidd (The Prospectory), Clare Wright (the School Annex), Michael Cunningham (Erwood Station Craft Centre), Ian Andrews (CADW), Phil Parks (National Trust), Julia Blazer (Art Beat Brecon), Kathryn Stowers (Big Pit), Gary Evans (Hawk Associates & SWOAPG), Colin Evans (Cantref), Edward Hillier (Ty Newydd Country Hotel)

Recorded apologies: Susie Suter (Gliffaes), Cordelia Passmore, Catherine McCloughlin, Peter Seamen, Rebecca Bowker, Brecon Beacons Holiday Cottages

Agenda Points:

Elizabeth Jeffreys welcomed everyone to the fifth BBT AGM and thanked Rob and the staff at Nythfa House.

Chair’s Report
Last year papers were set-out with a list of ambitions including the Brecon Beacons being identified as a tourism destination in its own right, this happended in 2010….For full report See Appendix 1

Finance Report
2009 had had a turnover of just over £40,000
2010 had a turnover of £61,688 and had a profit of £108
The 2010 financial report was formally accepted. Available on application
(Proposer – Mike Cunningham, Seconder – Donna Baldwin)

2011 Budget
A larger contingency will be retained in 2011 to prevent any difficulties at the end of the year. Memberships are expected to rise to 250 people in 2011. The final figure for the marketing work has not yet finalised for entering into the budget.
The 2011 budget was accepted with an anticipated turnover of £80,000.
(Proposer – Jeff Callaghan, Seconder – Gary Evans)

Officers & Nominations
Officers
Chair – Elizabeth Jeffreys
Vice Chair – Andrew Fryer
Director General – Punch Maughan
Treasurer – Catherine Maggs
Collective acceptance of officers
(Proposer – Sue Collins, Seconder – Sharon Birch)

Executive Committee
Abergavenny – Hilary Lipscombe
Brecon Very Revd Geoffrey Marshall
Hay on Wye & Talgarth – Anna Heywood
Heads of Valleys – Eddie Hillier
Hotel Sector – Susie Suter
Formally accepted
(Proposer – Donna Baldwin, Seconder – Liz Mathews)

Nominations
1. Llandovery & Llandeilo – Fiona Walker
Proposer – Nick Stewart, Seconder – Gary Evans

2. Activity Sector – Mark Soanes, Call of The Wild
Proposer – Gary Evans, second – Jeff Callaghan

3. Co-opted position – Colin Evans, Cantref

Nythfa House is now open to the public for meals and for conference facilities – contact Rob Lewis on 01874 624287. The Retreat at Nythfa House offer beauty treatments and pamper parties both on and off site. There is also a small swimming pool which is available for private hire – contact Donna Baldwin on 07900 551765.

BBT Update
The BBT website continues to grow with content and more businesses being added to the directory. The biggest referers to the website are the BBNPA and Visit Wales websites. More local marketing areas have been created thus sub-dividing the larger areas into more sections.

The BBT Facebook page is becoming more dynamic and the blog is also being used for businesses special offers. Alexander Marr is sending out weekly updates to press on the deals and special offers in the area. Please send any information to her via breconnews@gmail.com

www.getactive-beacons.co.uk is the BBT business to business website and contains minutes, cheat sheets, contact details for BBT and other business info. It also has an events ‘widget’ which can be picked up and used on other people’s websites.

Brecon Beacons Marketing Coordination Group (BBMCG) has been set-up and the core representatives are from BBT, Powys CC, Monmouthshire CC, Carmarthenshire CC, BBNPA (tourism, communication and visitor teams), Regional Tourism Partnerships, TIC group, with a hope to also bring in CADW and The National Trust and some other key trade represntatives. There is also a steering group which meets more often. The main focus of the group for 2011 is the destination website and coordinating BB press releases and public relations.

The National Tourism Open Platform (NTOP) is the main data platform for Visit Wales and Visit Britain to pick up business information. Guestlink has been the main data feeder for the BBNP area but BBT has been lobbying for this to be changed and shortly businesses will be able to use Web4U as an alternate feeder to NTOP and therefore the Visit Wales websites.

Alexander Marr & Associates who are handling the local Press & PR send through monthly reports and there have been a number of press successes including press releases in the Telegraph, The Guardian, Sunday Times, Sunday Express and others. They also post regular updates to Facebook and the blog. These reports are available on appication

BBT is looking at its organisational structure and will be undergoing some re-modelling in 2011.

BBT is a member of Wales Tourism Alliance, a political lobbying group.

BBT working closely with SWOAPG representing the activity sector and a recent adventure activity day for businesses was a great success.

BBT still involved in the visitor e-mail survey, which gets sent to guests and visitors of the Brecon Beacons –Businesses are encouraged to submit the email addresses of their visitors so that they can respond to the survey

Be aware of securing your business WIFI see www.ecrimewales.com
It is now a legal requirement for anyone renting out holiday lets for 4 months or more in any 12 month period to have an Energy Performance Certificate by 13 June 2011. See www.wasco.org.uk

BBT Information Provision Research
Alison Kidd from Prospectory reported on the BBT commissioned research on what kind of questions visitors before and during their visit and then match them to the data and information that is available. They analysed 1000 queries from Trip Advisor Wales forum, Online surveys, focus groups and business survey responses.

Pre-trip most queries are concerning accommodation and general area info, surprisingly alot of research concerns where to eat. This becomes the main query once people arrive along with walking routes; cycling info and general are info.

Most of the queries named the location where they were staying (this allowed people to quickly narrow there search and results) and secondly they wanted recommendations. 80% of the visitors consulted the Internet before they arrived (for new/first time visitors this was 100%) and most used for finding accommodation, seeking reviews and recommendations and thirdly places to visit. 57% of visitors accessed the Internet during their visit.

The BBT website gets most hits from people searching on events (predominantly for Green Man and Brecon Jazz). Also accommodation and general Beacons info are searched for. What is missing is the location related keyword searches; this includes the word “near” to some.

The BBT website has excellent coverage for the main topics that visitors are interested in, except for walks.

Recommendations from the research
- Clarify the role of the BBT website
- Social network favourites and dislikes are starting to lead the way
- Help members exploit existing service (don’t try to compete) and make sure they are part of them (Trip Advisor, Google Places, Facebook)
- User reviews are here to stay embrace and manage them
- BBT members will have to decide whether this is something they want BBT to do.
- Make sure mobile phone searches pick up BBT and members websites
- Encourage member website cross linking between businesses
- Look at possibilities of bringing together visitor to visitor recommendations on the Beacons
- Collect and publish the cross references which visitors naturally make
- Concentrate on mobile Internet access rather than kiosk internet use. 24% of the UK population have a “smart” phone

For more information contact Alison Kidd on alison@prospectory.co.uk

Sustainable Tourism Powys- RDP Project
Martin Cooke reported that monies accessed via the Rural Development Plan (RDP) offers opportunities for tourism businesses for sustainable tourism. The criteria have changed recently and further information will be able from the 9th of May onwards

Welcome Monmouthshire
Mark Lloyd, Tourism Development Officer for Monmouthshire CC introduced the RDP Axis 3 & 4 projects within Monmouthshire, which aims to encourage sustainable tourism development and increase year round tourism. Start date for this project is May 2011

Axis 3 monies are available to develop walking loops off the Usk Valley Walk and coastal path routes to provide short circular routes. There is the provision for marketing as well as business support for businesses and communities on the circular routes. Also support available for interpretation, signage and access to rivers and waterways, deliver improvements on sustainable transport options and development of incentives for visitors.

Broadening Business – specific grants available for business in Monmouth to upgrade facilities. (£30k at 50%)
Vital Villages – community environmental improve scheme

Also Axis 4 projects offer a small grant scheme for traditional sectors. There is investigations into Walkers are Welcome scheme in Monmouthshire (£5 k max at 50%)
Online marketing support to link tourism businesses with food producers.
There are plan to create Sudbrook village interpretation centre
Festival clusters and gardens festival being developed for the area.

The Offa’s Dyke trail will be celebrating its 40th annerversary in 2011 and there will be a series of events to mark the event.

Sustainable Transport
Annie Lawrie, Visitor Transport Officer for the BBNPA, updated the meeting on the work over the last two years. Information has increased and now a Brecon Beacons specific transport website has been launched www.travelbreconbeacons.info which also links in to Travel Cymru and Park Explorer (the BBNPA map based website). Annie is launching a competition this summer to get as many visitors as possible using public transport between 1st of May to 30th September 2011.

The 2011 transport brochures and leaflets will be available from May onwards. Beacons Bus is starting the 29th of May to the 2nd of October 2011.

Next Meeting
BBT 2011 meeting dates
- 28th June
- 20th September
- 29th November