Destination Partnership

A first meeting of Monmouthshire’s new Destination Management Partnership took place on 19/06/2019, with Aine Morris, CEO, Abergavenny Food Festival, as chair.

The Partnership was set up to champion the visitor economy of Monmouthshire and drive forward greater investment in the destination through improved engagement with the industry and all others involved in developing and promoting tourism in the County. The new Partnership reports to Monmouthshire’s Public Service Programme Board, to reflect tourism’s contribution to the Board’s well-being objectives.

Members of the Partnership include key destination tourism associations, chambers of trade, town councils and other stakeholder organisations.

Key purposes of the Partnership are to: oversee progress against Monmouthshire’s Destination Management Plan 2017-2020, share and compare destination forward plans with impact in the County, identify action areas of common interest, and agree future priorities.

The first meeting included a report on progress against delivery of Monmouthshire’s current Destination Management Plan as well as updates from partners on current priorities and planned activity. Partners were advised of 9% real tourism revenue growth between 2015 and 2018 for Monmouthshire, which is on track to achieve the 10% growth target by 2020. Achieving a more even annual distribution of benefit across all parts of the County is however proving more challenging. Partners attending the first meeting expressed a genuine desire to work more effectively together in future to deliver destination priorities and maximise the economic, social and environmental benefits of tourism for the whole County.