Following the success of council funding to support the tourism sector, further funding is now available to help small tourism accommodation businesses in rural or semi-rural parts of Swansea improve their offer.
Businesses can apply for up to £10,000, which is being made available by Swansea Council through the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF).
It’s the third time this type of tourism support funding has been made available.
The first two rounds were a result of direct funding that Swansea Council made available as part of its economic recovery strategy to support the tourism sector, post-pandemic.
That funding led to improvements at 23 tourism businesses in Swansea, which included bathroom and kitchen refurbishments, new en-suite facilities, cycling storage and accessible glamping.
This also resulted in more businesses signing up to the Visit Wales grading scheme and new partners working with the council’s tourism team.
The council’s tourism team bid for and was successful in achieving additional funding within the culture and tourism anchor of the Shared Prosperity Fund, enabling further investment in the sector.
Cllr Robert Francis-Davies, Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Investment, Regeneration, Events and Tourism, said: “Tourism was worth more than £0.5bn to Swansea Bay’s economy in 2022, so we very much recognise its importance.
“Our tourism businesses do great work in raising the profile of the destination and creating employment opportunities for local people, but we know from our latest tourism trade survey that more support is needed from the council to continue to help these businesses with their recovery from the pandemic.
“We are delighted that as part of our Shared Prosperity Fund allocation, we are able to make further funding available, building on the success of previous funding that the council had made available.
“While this time being allocated as a result of the Shared Prosperity Fund, the overall aim of the funding remains the same – to help tourism businesses improve the quality of their offer, whether it is through achieving a higher Visit Wales or AA grading or enhancing the visitor experience.”
Applications are now open until Sunday October 22, 2023, for small accommodation businesses with under 25 employees.
All projects proposed have to be complete by end of November, 2024.
Eligible tourism businesses interested in finding out more or applying can visit www.swansea.gov.uk/tsf
