BBC - South West Wales - Yoursay

15 November 2009
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John Talks Tourism

Rhossili Beach, Gower John Evans, originally from South West Wales, now lives in Lugano Switzerland. Here he gives his thoughts and feelings on the locality after a recent visit home:

I made a return visit to Swansea and the Gower peninsula in March of this year. It was the first time in 13 years and although I saw many changes it seems that the authorities are not presenting the region in its best light as what should be an outstanding tourist attraction.

Many changes have been made to the positive and fortunately the natural beauty has been largely kept in tact. However the main stumbling block seem to start in the city centre:

1. The roads are in need repair as are the pavements.They look dirty and impossible to clean. Like something out of the third world.

2. The Kingsway, once the pride and joy, was a disgrace with all the buildings closed down and and boarded up looking like something from the Rio de Janiero Favellas. Surely it is not beyond the Council to pass a bye-law ensuring that the owners of the buildings cover their unused premises in a clean and tidy manner.

Swansea Marina

3. I have read in numerous articles over the years that Rhossili is one of the best beaches in Europe, if not the world. However each article points out the difficulties in getting down to the beach. Surely a well studied project could allow the insertion of either a lift or a funicular railway to the beach without damaging the beauty. No doubt subsidies from Brussels or the National Lottery could be obtained for such a project.

4. Caswell Bay, Langland Bay and Rotherslade could also do with some tidying up. It is also very obvious to someone who has not visited the area for some time the damage done to Langland and Rotherslade Bays by the dredging of sand. The sandy beach must be now half of what it was.

5. Lack of quality three star hotels.

6. It is absolutely necessary for tourism that the airport and its connections are amplified and that does not necessarily mean jumbo jets. I know that it is not pleasant to have an airport on your doorstep but if it is well regulated it causes no problems. I live on the flight path of our local airport which allows the first flight at 6 in the morning and last at 10.30 (unless the incoming flight has been delayed, which is very rare) in the evening. The airport is necessary not only to bring in your tourists but it ensures that your region becomes internationally known.
In other words - further publicity.

Dylan Thomas Theatre

I also visited Neath and the town has much of the same problems as Swansea over roads and cleanliness. I also hope that the Neath council is looking at the degradation of the Windsor cinema before it falls down. It surely must be one of the few art-deco buildings in Wales. Therefore likely to become in the future a national treasure. I was pleased to see that the glass stained windows were in tact. Fortunately too high for vandals to reach.

One has to be very pleased to see the the redevelopment of the old Swansea docklands, even though I feel the parts of the marina nearest to the city centre should have some railings around it. This would probably avoid any further tragic accidents.

The pedestrian way and cycle track to Mumbles Pier are a joy to be on and probably the envy of many seaside resorts throughout Europe. Something to be publicised as a tourist feature.

It is pleasing to see that even Swansea Bay has now come up to Blue Flag standards. No mean feat for a beach having to cope with an estuary and dock entrance.

Very pleasant were the Heads of the Valley road which allows one to appreciate the beauty of the Neath Valley and invite tourists to want to see more. The old roads did not give a very good view.

Worms Head

Lastly I hope that all local councils reunite and fight at all costs the installation of any ridiculous and inefficient wind farms out at sea. These will be complete eyesores and will ruin one of the best coastlines in Europe.

Finally the region has improved its natural beauty since the refinery of Llandarcy and other such eyesores have been been demolished. Let us not add new ones to replace them. The loss of employment in these industries could easily be replaced by jobs in tourism if the region is well marketed.

We have one of the most outstanding regions in Europe - if not the world - but we must learn to valorize it and moreover publicise it. That also means keeping it tidy and clean. It is an expensive job but absolutely necessary for any tourist region and in the long run it will create extra employment.

Europeans are going in their droves to Eire. What more do they have to offer? Probably only more rain.

Martyn from Killay has this to say:
"Relatives recently staying from overseas were keen to experience the UK novelty of a walk to the local pub on a summer evening. This apparently reasonable tourist request was unachievable where I live (Killay) due to the number of cars (and occasionally caravans) parked on the pavements. Once at the local, kids on off-road quad bikes riding on a cycle track / bridleway made the whole event a tourist experinence which they would not want to repeat."