THE WELSH HERITAGE TOURISM INDUSTRY ANDENTREPRENEURSHIP

Heritage is the key to the success of the tourism industry in Wales. Tourism itself is one of thelargest and most important industries in the Principality contributing £2.0 billion in spendingfrom overnight and day visitors, 7% to GDP and 10% of jobs to the economy (100,000 jobs).Following a period of substantial growth, during the 1980s and 1990s, it has been argued that the‘bubble’ surrounding the Welsh Heritage Tourism industry has now burst. During the period1998-1999 the top five visitor attractions in Wales, within the heritage sector, suffered an overallnegative change in visitor numbers and spend ranging from –6% to –14%. This paper willanalyse the proposition that, if the Heritage Tourism industry in Wales is to be used as a catalystfor economic regeneration and development, an attitude of entrepreneurship must be embraced.Therefore this paper sets out to explore whether or not the traditional ‘curatorial’ approach stillprevails within the industry and what, if any, reactions are necessary to attain financial solvencycombined with authentic and sustainable products. The paper will concentrate on the mainnational provider of heritage products in Wales, CADW: Welsh Historic Monuments. Incomparison a number of smaller commercial and voluntary enterprises will beanalysed/considered in the second stage of this research project to give a comprehensivesnapshot of the industry.[...]