Extra hotel beds needed in county as tourism rises

* Paddle boarding is one of the activities bringing more tourists to the county.

Creating extra hotel beds to Denbighshire is the aim for the coming year as tourism in the county rises bringing hundreds of millions of pounds into the local economy.

Denbighshire County Council’s Tourism Growth Plan has helped contribute to a rise in the number of visitors to the county to 5.86million, a 5.3 per cent increase on 2014, while more than 6,100 jobs, up 7.4 per cent, are supported by the sector.

The total economic impact of tourism in the county for 2015 was £458.39m, a six per cent rise from the previous year.

Carolyn Brindle, the Council’s Lead Officer Business Support & Local Growth, said: “Tourism is a vital part of Denbighshire’s economy. Tourism helps makes towns and villages sustainable and the Tourism Growth Plan, sets out the county’s approach to developing this sector.

“The aims of the Plan are to increase numbers and, importantly, visitor spend as well as creating more jobs and more opportunities.

“Work on the Plan is being carried out by a number of departments, including the Council’s Tourism, Marketing and Events Team, as well as the Countryside Services team, working together under the direction of the Economic and Community Ambition Programme.”

The main focus for the coming year is to increase the quality and number of beds in the county and developments in the pipeline include a Premier Inn and Travelodge in Rhyl which will bring an extra 140 beds to the county. 

Over the past year the plan has provided funding to update the Ride North Wales website, which promotes the area as a haven for mountain bikers, and for the Clwydian Range Food Trail producers group to attend a range of food festivals and develop promotional materials.

Funding was provided to Dee Valley Active, a group of 15 businesses created to harness the economic potential of the Dee Valley by providing and promoting outdoor adventure tourism.

Part of the funding was used to set up a single point of sale booking system for the group.

Lianne Ing of Corwen-based Stand up Paddle Board UK, said: “This could mean big things for our business locally and other businesses like us.

“To have a central booking platform for outdoor activities it will bring us local businesses together collaborating under one roof to provide the activities that we run and love to tourists and the local community.”

Other projects included encouraging businesses to use Welsh to build on the economic strengths provided by Denbighshire’s strong Welsh identity and culture, which included helping the Oriel Hotel in St Asaph provide a Welsh wedding package.