What is Community Tourism?

Too often, the growth of tourism has meant that community assets attract visitors to an area, but the economic benefits almost all go to businesses and individuals from outside. Visitors bring very few benefits to the community – and sometimes they even have a negative effect on quality of life there!

Community Tourism is the opposite of this. It aims to include local communities in any tourist development and ensures that the local community enjoys a fair share of the benefits.

Ideally, Community Tourism grows from within the community – developed by the people who live there. But no matter how a community tourist enterprise begins, it must involve interested local people who can genuinely be a part of, and actively contribute to these developments in their communities.

Community Tourism includes all interested and concerned local citizens, consulting with them and empowering them to work for the benefit of their communities. By doing this, it aims to protect and enhance communities and safeguard their environment – bringing economic, social and cultural benefits to their members. 

Valleys Regional Park has employed 3 Community Tourism Officers across the central, eastern and western areas of The Valleys.

How Can Community Tourism Officers Help?

We have contacts with project partners across The Valleys – and we also find out about what is being done in other similar regions. This means we can keep you informed about different kinds of Community Tourism enterprises and help promote those that you believe would be appropriate for your community.

We also put Community Tourism enterprises in contact with one another so you can develop a more integrated tourist provision across the area for the benefit of all.

Keep an eye on our News section to see what other groups in The Valleys are getting up to and how you can get in touch with them.

Community Tourism aims to develop enterprises that are sustainable – so they bring long-term benefits to the community while respecting the natural world and safeguarding the environment.

We are making training available that will help you to become better Ambassadors for your communities. This training is for those actually involved in the tourist industry as well as for others wanting to do something to help their community.

Community Tourism Ambassador training will help you to improve your knowledge about your community so as to be able to present it at its best to visitors. It will also enhance your skills in dealing with visitors so as to promote community assets more effectively.

Community Tourism Officers

Elen Davies (Western Valleys – Carmarthenshire, Bridgend, Neath Port Talbot, Powys, Swansea)

Rhys Hughes (Central Valleys – Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taff)

Joseph Newbury (Eastern Valleys – Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Torfaen)