During the pandemic we ran two professional development courses for existing Blue Badge linguist guides, from other parts of the UK.  They were already working for incoming tour operators as expert linguists, but their knowledge of Wales was not complete enough to give their guests a proper sense of place when visiting Wales. This training has addressed one of the market needs in guiding in Wales, highlighted by Visit Wales - to increase the number of linguist guides available.  The guides studied online with lectures and guest speakers, such as Dr David Gwyn, expert on the World Heritage Site for The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales.  Once Covid regulations were relaxed the guides participated in tours in North and South Wales and received their certification.

With the benefit of UK Government Community Renewal Funding 19 individuals from the Isle of Anglesey were trained as Cruise Welcome Guides to meet the needs of cruise ship visitors who do not purchase an excursion, so that they can enjoy Holyhead and Holy Island, thus giving them a great welcome and benefitting the town by increase visitor spending. The course combined training for Walking tours, using a number of heritage locations to form tours alongside Single Site guides from Holyhead Maritime Museum and St Cybi’s Church. The group are going on to form a co-operative to deliver tours on a regular basis which will involve the local community too.

This is a feasibility study activity that we carried out for the Local Action Group Cynnal y Cardi, funded by EU monies. The aim was to look at how to showcase visitor assets within the rural towns of Ceredigion and encourage more visitors in the coastal areas to come into the rural areas for the benefit of the local economy and the visitor experience.  The study uncovered a wealth of themes for “Guide Cultural Adventures” which combined community transport, guiding skills and the warm welcome from the rural attractions themselves.  A series of practical and costed recommendations are now ready for implementation.