The Wales 'brand' in Cardiff

Cadw also do visitor surveys which adds some clarity around percentages of people who are visiting the sites. Generally it looks like those on holiday (nearly 2/3rds) make up most of the visitors and that people who do visit the sites come from all over the world. There are then regional differences within Wales with the north Wales castles being more popular than those in south Wales.

https://cadw.gov.wales/sites/default/fi ... g-2018.pdf

There are some interesting things in there.

I dont know why some people are getting agitated by this subject. It is undeniable that Cardiff/ Wales has some excellent tourist destinations but which appear to be underutilised - for whatever reason. At the same time not everywhere is worldclass. Lets be realistic.

But we need to maximise our potential including maximising our returns. There is point in attracting too many tourists to non- revenue attractions.

What a bleak thread this became.

Very much so

It became bleak because instead of focusing on how we can enhance our attractions there was a flat denial that anything needed to be done. If Caerphilly castle the second biggest in the UK is only get 1-200 thousand a year yet Alnwick/Warwick etc are getting 800 thousand, what are they doing better?

That's a totaly false comparison. Alnwick and Warwick Castles are commercially run tourist venues which concentrate on visitor numbers at the expence of their historic importance. Essentially, they're funfairs with an historic backdrop.

Cadw has to balance its job as custodian of our history with its potential economic benefits. The comparison needs to be with sites operated by English Heritage which has a similar role.

That's not to defend Cadw. It's simply saying you have to compare like with like. Comparing Warwick Castle with Caerphilly is like comparing Disney World with Saint David's cathedral. They are different things with different purposes.