Posted: Wed 9th May 2018

Major plans put forward to boost local tourism and increase visitors to Wrexham

Wrexham.com for people living in or visiting the Wrexham area
This article is old - Published: Wednesday, May 9th, 2018

Ambitious plans to boost tourism across the county borough and create a stronger brand for Wrexham town centre have been backed by councillors.

Yesterday Executive Board members unanimously backed plans to implement the Wrexham County Borough Destination Management Action Plan 2018-20; a three year plan that aims to build upon visitor experience in the county borough and the ways in which this can be achieved.

It is the second plan of its kind to outline tourism plans for the Wrexham area, with a five year Destination Management Plan created and subsequently implemented in 2011/2012.

At the time the plan received a mixed response from councillors, with some questionning why the town centre hadn’t been identified as a key tourism hub. There were also concerns about the viability of the plans presented in the document – particularly in the wake of increasing budget pressures and what was then looming financial cuts.

However in recent years tourism in the county borough has continued to to grow, with the likes of National Trust sites, the World Heritage Site at Trevor Basin and events such as Wales Comic Con, FOCUS WALES, the Victorian Christmas Market and Underneath the Arches attracting thousands each year to the area.

Last year it was announced that tourism spend had increased since the previous Destination Management Plan, resulting in a 30 per cent increase and contributing £116 million to the local economy.

Tourism also supports around 1,600 full time jobs across the county borough, a factor which has been helped by an increase in day visits and local hotels / accommodation providers hitting around 80 per cent occupancy per week.

The new Wrexham County Borough Destination Management Action Plan offers details on how the tourism offer in Wrexham can be built upon and aims to: “Increase the average length a visitor stays at an attraction, maximise opportunities for visitors to ‘stay and spend’ and achieve a more effective spread of visitors across the County Borough, in order to capitalise on additional tourism generated revenue within the local economy.”

Wrexham Council is expected to “take the strategic lead on the destination plan implementation” while working in partnership with This is Wrexham to help deliver the outcomes.

The document itself provides an overview of current tourism spots across the county borough along with four priority areas to help further increase spend and visits to the area. These are:

– The World Heritage Site Plus
– Wrexham Town
– Sense of Place Development
– Visitor Management & Information

While the plan aims to continue to focus on the three existing tourism hubs of Chirk Castle, Erddig Hall and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct & Canal World Heritage Site, the town centre is also described as being a priority visitor hub. These are locations seen as “key attractions” that generate large volumes of visitors.

In the plan emphasis is placed on creating an identity for the town centre and creating a sense of pride locally, with the town described as not currently having “a compelling visitor offer”.

It adds: “While Wrexham has strengths and opportunities, from a visitor perspective, the town lacks a strong identity, is dominated by discount retailers and has a number of vacant premises in prominent locations, lacks an evening dining economy, is looking tired and at times unattractive, and is spread out making orientation for visitors difficult.”

Often Wrexham is compared to neighbouring areas, such as Shrewsbury and Chester, by local residents; with criticism that the town centre in particular ‘isn’t what it used to be’.

One way put forward to tackle the perception is to create an identity for Wrexham that locals in particular can support and to “position itself more strongly and distinctly within the region (i.e. up to an hour’s travel time).”

The report notes that this could be achieved via work with the This is Wrexham partnership and: “Targeting a more local audience that is more familiar with the area – content should be more dynamic focusing on ideas of what there is to do in the Borough in the week or month ahead (e.g. a particular event, a gig, a walk that is particularly nice for that season etc.).

“The This is Wrexham card should also provide a part of the promotional mix – providing a mechanism for developing a customer database and special promotions.”

The newly opened £4.5m Tŷ Pawb facility is cited as having the potential to help develop Wrexham’s new identity and helping to create a “more distinctive and realistic positioning” as the cultural centre for North Wales.

Wrexham’s remaining two Victorian indoor markets are also seen to play a part in the rebrand for Wrexham, with the potential to pursue funding opportunities for the physical improvements of the buildings.

It is noted within the plan that there is potential to create a visitor focused quarter within the St Giles and Tŷ Pawb areas; with the General and Butchers Market seen to offer opportunities ” for a stronger visitor product – similar to the successes of Altrincham food market, Mackie Mayor in Manchester and Bury Market.”

The plan also addresses the potential relocation of the Tourist Information Centre, with Tŷ Pawb cited as the likely new home for the service.

Wrexhan County Borough’s World Heritage Site Pontcysyllte Aqueduct & Canal is also seen as a key area to build upon and utilise tourism opportunities.

The site is described as “key asset” for Wrexham and north Wales. However it is also seen as “not performing to it potential” due to visitor constraints such as a lack of parking at the Trevor Basin.

Last summer ‘major economic regeneration and tourism boost” at the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct were announced as part of a masterplan to help build upon the site’s current offer and create jobs and new opportunities for visitors.

Commenting on the future of the World Heritage Site, the Destination Management Plan states: “Priorities for development include improved visitor management and wider site development, cross selling and creating stronger connections with other assets in the area.

“The development of the Masterplan will be instrumental in this.”

Speaking at yesterday’s Executive Board, Lead Member for Economic Regeneration, said: “Over the last 12 months we have been knocked from pillar to post over negativity over Wrexham. This is a good story and this is how Wrexham is going at the moment.

“Tourism is increasingly important to our economy in Wrexham. Since the first Destination Management Plan in 2012 tourism has grown by 38 per cent and is today worth £116m plus supports 1600 full time jobs in the county borough.”

He added: “Our priority is to support the World Heritage Site and Wrexham town centre as these are the areas we have most influence over. It is important we grasp the opportunities to continue to make most of opportunities to grow tourism in Wrexham County Borough.”

You can view the Wrexham County Borough Destination Management Action Plan 2018-20 in full here.



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