Mining for Tourists: An Analysis of Industrial Tourism and Government Policy in Wales

ABSTRACT

Wales was an epicenter of industrial activity during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Following deindustrialization in the 1960s and 1970s, Wales emerged as a destination for industrial tourism in the decades that followed, with attractions created from mines, mills, railroads, and other heritage sites. Serving as an important form of cultural heritage tourism within the country, issues associated with industrial tourism are addressed in Wales within successive government tourism and cultural heritage policies. This paper considers the evolving relationship between the Welsh Government and industrial tourism in the first two decades of the twenty-first century, analyzing policies created by the Welsh Assembly, Visit Wales, Cadw, and other departments and agencies, associated strategies, and investment trends. Consideration is given to the broader implications of the policy approaches and failures.

KEYWORDS:

• Industrial tourism
• tourism policy
• cultural heritage
• Wales
• policy analysis

Acknowledgements

I would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this research was provided by a Connecticut State University – American Association of University Professors faculty research grant and by a faculty start-up grant from Ball State University.