Heritage Tourism European Funding Project

Heritage Tourism European Funding Project
The Assembly Government is managing a project to develop Heritage Tourism in Wales. The project is largely funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and from EU Convergence Funds and will help maximize the economic value of heritage by increasing the number, length and value of visits to Wales. The project will also help open Wales’s outstanding heritage to a wider audience by making it more enjoyable both for visitors and for people who live in Wales.
Partnership
Cadw is working with Visit Wales, the Countryside Council for Wales, the Valleys Regional Park and the Environment Agency to develop a strategic coordinated approach to using funds available as part of the Convergence programmes. Seven strategic project ideas are being taken forward, having been developed from the Assembly Government’s Cultural Tourism Strategy and Sustainable Tourism Framework — the Heritage Tourism Project is one of these.
Funding
Cadw is leading the Heritage Tourism Project having successfully bid for Convergence Funding under the Priority 4, Theme 3 heading, Environment for Growth (or E4G, for short). The project will run until December 2014 and is worth a total of £19m:
  * £8.5m will be provided by European Funding
  * £7.6m will be met by the Welsh Assembly Government, including Cadw and the Targeted Match Fund.
  * Delivery partners will provide the remaining funds.
Aims of the project
Cadw will be working with communities, heritage partners and the tourism sector across Wales to improve the visitor experience and provide a more integrated range of heritage tourism activities by, for example, developing heritage tours, trails and events packages. The intention is to connect individual heritage sites with other heritage attractions and with the local community and the surrounding area, as well as to link to broader interpretive stories and themes.
The project focuses upon:
  * improving physical and intellectual access...