Faith Tourism – something to cherish

Wales has a fascinating religious heritage with much of it available to enjoy. Ceri Jones from Visit Wales explains how your church can get involved.

Over recent years, the National Churches Trust, with support from Visit Wales, has delivered the ‘Experiencing Sacred Wales’ project, working with tourism and faith heritage partners to welcome visitors by creating bookable experiences and trails linking faith and wider heritage sites. For further information on some of the Faith Tourism Experiences promoted by Visit Wales see VisitWales.com

The National Churches Trust have also recently appointed a dedicated Wales support officer as part of the Cherish funding awarded to them by National Lottery Heritage Fund. Cherish has been set up to support churches art risk.

Through Cherish, places of worship can receive advice and training on grants and maintenance, so they can keep their places of worship in good repair. Support is also available to help churches open their buildings to visitors and tourists, so that even more people can enjoy the wonderful heritage that these churches have to offer. For further information please e-mail Gareth Simpson at Gareth.Simpson@nationalchurchestrust.org or visit www.nationalchurchestrust.org

Please find below some quick tips on how places of worship can work with Visit Wales. For further information please contact Ceri Jones, Regional Engagement Manager Visit Wales ceri.jones057@gov.wales

• Llwybrau:Wales by Trails - In 2023 & 2024 Visit Wales are inviting visitors and residents of Wales to explore the epic trails of Wales as we show what is on offer - using trails as a springboard into exciting experiences and new opportunities. “Llwybrau. Wales, by Trails” aims to inspire our stakeholders, partners and the media, to use the theme as a way to showcase the full range of products that Wales has to offer. An industry guide is available for industry partners to download and use: Llwybrau | Visit Wales.
• Get Quality Assured and maximise your Visit Wales website listing -places of worship that offer a tour to visitors can possibly participate in the Visit Wales Visitor Attraction Scheme free of charge
• Look at opportunities to work with Travel Trade – further information on working with the Travel Trade is available here Working With Us | Tourism in Wales | Travel Trade Wales (visitwales.com)
• Feed in your news, stories and events to productnews@gov.wales – Let us know what’s new and we can use the information provided when planning our web and social content.
• Sign up to the Visit Wales Tourism Industry Newsletter and follow us on social media – Twitter: @VisitWalesBiz