Wales needs rebrand away from sheep, rain and rugby, MPS told

WALES needs a rebrand because it is only known for “sheep, wet weather and rugby”, MPS have been told.

The nation should instead promote its adventure tourism destinations, “amazing” food and drink, and numerous heritage sites, Sean Taylor, the founder of Zip World, a zip line firm, told the Commons Welsh affairs committee. “It’s a complicated and longterm strategy for how we build brand Wales, and I think we need to get away from sheep, wet weather and – even as a president of my local rugby club – rugby as well. Because football has come to the fore now,” Mr Taylor said.

“If you look at the brand in Wales it is fairly weak compared to the Irish brand and the Scottish brand in particular. We get overshadowed quite a bit. You’ve got the Royal family in London, you’ve got tartan and Loch Ness in Scotland and in Ireland you’ve got Guinness.”

Stephen Davies, of Penderyn Distillery, Ian Roberts, finance director at Portmeirion Cymru, and Paul Lewin from Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways agreed the country is often “overshadowed” by Scotland, Ireland and England because of its comparatively “weak” brand.

Other suggestions included more use of the country’s name, Cymru, and emphasising the Welsh language. “The language needs to be weaponised as an advantage, not a threat,” said Mr Taylor. “I feel like there’s often negative connotations about the language but our international and English visitors love the use of the Welsh language.”

“We get school groups from England and by the time they leave they can say ‘bore da’, ‘prynhawn da’, ‘croeso’. They love it, they embrace it.” Mr Roberts, from Portmeirion, the Italianate tourist village, said: “We’ve always put a strong emphasis on the culture, tradition and the language.”

The businesses called on the Welsh Government to increase its tourism budget to improve communication about the country’s identity.