Booklet to put Wales on European tourist map

Mar 10 2008 by Madeleine Brindley, Western Mail

KEY landmarks in Wales’ industrial heritage will be included in a Europe-wide network celebrating the past.

A brochure, which outlines South Wales’ role in European industrial heritage, will be launched today at Aberdulais Falls. The project will link the Welsh sites, which include landmarks such as Big Pit and the Newport Transporter Bridge, to more than 740 in 29 countries and could help to boost tourism.

Jonathan Jones, the Welsh Assembly Government’s director of tourism and marketing, said, “It is fantastic news that South Wales’ industrial past is now to be recognised on a European level and linked to sites in other countries across Europe.

“This is testimony to the wealth of our historic environment and heritage which could be key in developing Wales’ cultural tourism product.

“Today marks a new beginning in which we aim to raise public awareness of the importance of our cultural heritage to our existing communities, in which we foster its role as a strand of cultural tourism and a potential contributor to the local economy and in which it plays an important part in raising the profile of our nation throughout the world.”

The European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH) brings together 64 anchor sites, which represent different aspects of the continent’s industrial past and culture – from the Meyer Shipyard, in Papenburg, Germany, to the Royal Gunpowder Mills, in Waltham Abbey.

In addition, 10 regional routes – including one in South Wales – have been developed which include more important sites in the country or region’s industrial past and show the diversity of Europe’s industrial history.

John Rodger, the Blaenavon World Heritage Site officer who acts for Torfaen Council and as partner to the European Route of Industrial Heritage, said, “The ERIH is a growing network of the best industrial heritage sites in Europe and aims to be a recognised brand of quality in the tourism market.

“The South Wales route is part of this network and fosters international recognition of the area’s very special past that changed the world through the production of iron and steel, copper, tinplate and coal.

“By bringing the various sites in South Wales together we hope to help raise the profile of all the sites and work together to stimulate more local interest and increase visitor numbers. We also want to ensure heritage is taken into account in future planning and investment decisions.”

The colour glossy booklet featuring sites along the South Wales route will be distributed through Tourist Information Centres.

And volunteer workers at the heritage sites will direct visitors to other relevant sites in the area, to give tourists a better understanding of Wales’ leading role in the industrial revolution.

Jeff Pride, director of the Herian Partnership coordinating team, which helped to put together the brochure, said, “We are pleased to have helped in the production of this brochure which supports one of the Herian Partnership’s objectives of improving information and access to the story of industrial South Wales and the key role played by the region in making Wales the first industrial nation in the 19th century.”

Big Pit, in Blaenavon, Rhondda Heritage Park and the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea, have been named as anchor sites.

But others to be featured in the brochure and on the South Wales route, include Goytre Wharf, Pontypool Museum, Fourteen Locks, in Newport, the Cynon Valley Museum and Art Gallery, Cyfarthfa Castle in Merthyr Tydfil and the Pierhead, in Cardiff.