During his visit to the event, which was organised by Visit Wales and Food and Drink Wales, the Minister noted that Food and Tourism are particularly important in Wales as the two sectors are key components of the Welsh economy and that Prosperity for All: the new economic action plan, identifies food and tourism as new foundation sectors of the economy and as the backbones of many local economies.
Lord Elis Thomas, said:
“Welsh food and drink are an essential part of the tourism offer in Wales and give the tourism and hospitality industry an opportunity to provide visitors with a real sense of place. Food Tourism provides a means of drawing together the strengths of a local destination by building the relationships between the hospitality/catering industry and local food and drink producers.
“Visitors are looking for quality, local food and drink and they want to know the provenance of what is on the menu, whether they are eating in a café, restaurant, B&B or hotel. We want to shout about our produce with confidence and tell the story of its journey to our plates – we want visitors to enjoy a real taste of Wales and we want them to think of fantastic food and drink when they think of Wales.”
With 2018 being Year of the Sea in Wales the showcase included a feature on seafood and sea themed products in order to give tourism businesses ideas of how to incorporate the themed year through their food offering in 2018.
The aim of the event was to bring together producers and tourism and hospitality businesses to encourage more businesses to use Welsh produce in their food tourism offer.
David Evans, Director of Dylan’s said
“We were delighted to host the Food and Drink Event at our Criccieth Restaurant earlier this week. All our staff thoroughly enjoyed looking after the 150 plus guests on the day and we were hugely impressed by the variety and quality of Welsh produce on display. As ever Dylan’s is committed to promoting the very best of North Wales food and drink and Wales’ Year of the Sea gives us a great opportunity to shout about local seafood and sea themed products”.
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