Tourism companies operating in Wales have benefitted from an innovative programme which sought to improve their take-up and use of digital technologies. The initiative has helped Wales’s tourism sector to become more familiar with using ICT for business promotion, while making life easier for visitors.
- 12 October 2015
The DTBF Programme enabled us to work in partnership with a wide range of organisations across the Welsh tourism sector to explore how the latest developments in digital technology could help put them gain a leading edge. The results include a range of mobile apps that use Augmented Reality to add new dimensions to visitors’ experiences and opportunities for businesses to grow.
Visit Wales delivered its Digital Tourism Business Framework (DTBF) programme with the specific aim of moving the country’s tourism SMEs from relative e-business immaturity and into the digital business age. The DTBF programme established three key activities to help tourism companies engage with new technology.
Firstly, an ICT diagnostic service was provided to individual businesses, and a web platform – sharewales.com – was developed to share learning across the industry. Secondly, grant funding was made available to individuals and groups that wanted to improve their business performance through digital technologies. Thirdly, DTBF offered a range of digital marketing activities linked to the creation, development and use of the new Visit Wales website.
Creating jobs and improving business
The programme carried out 738 ICT diagnostics with individual tourism companies. This proved to be an effective way of helping companies understand their technology needs – in fact 79 % of users reported an improvement and/or growth in their businesses, with 1 810 new or improved products, processes or services launched between them by January 2015 and 44 jobs created.
In addition, 44 companies received financial support through grant funding, which helped to bring in a further GBP 1 million in private investment. The programme can also claim to have encouraged the use of the Visit Wales website: traffic has grown dramatically with the new site attracting about 3.5 million sessions in 2014 compared to 1.6 million for the predecessor sites in 2010/2011.
Supporting tourists
According to an independent assessment, DTBF has contributed to improving visitor awareness of Wales; increased visitor numbers and stays; enhanced visitor experience; and provided scope for capacity building in the sector’s SMEs.
Forty new digital products, aimed specifically at improving tourists’ experience have been developed thanks to DTBF. These include a digital technology interpretation project at Llanelly House and the development of immersive e-digital trails in Llandudno, which build on the town’s links with the Alice in Wonderland books.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Digital Tourism” is EUR 11 702 074, of which the EU’s European Regional Development Fund is contributing EUR 6 528 439 from the Operational Programme “West Wales and the Valleys” for the 2007 to 2013 programming period.