Visit Wales will mark the start of Wales’s Year of Outdoors with a confident new campaign – that’s full of ‘hwyl’ and promotes Wales as a place of outstanding outdoor experiences for everyone.
This was published under the 2016 to 2021 administration of the Welsh Government
- The Year of Outdoors is the latest in Visit Wales’s series of popular themed years
- Outdoor enthusiasts from Wales join well-known faces to guide the way
The first part of the campaign will premiere on 1st January with a new film showing on TV and across Visit Wales’ social media platforms and video on demand, and gives a taster of what’s to come during 2020.
The campaign invites people to ‘check in’ to new experiences, to celebrate the outdoors and let the outdoors in. It showcases outdoor enthusiasts from across the country - local swimmers, surfers, cyclists, walkers alongside well known Welsh faces such as Luke Evans and Eve Myles. The heart of the campaign aims to express the real Wales including the welcome and feeling of community and linking the outdoors to health and wellbeing.
As part of the campaign, Olympian Jazz Carlin has a day out with Pembrokeshire based Bluetits chill swimming group on a trip to Harlech beach. Sian Richardson co-founded the Bluetits Chill Swimmers in Pembrokeshire in 2014 with Tracey Sharrat. Sian said:
“Our group in Pembrokeshire began with a group of strangers all with a shared passion for the outdoors. Now there’s a joyous sense of belonging and inclusion….given that our group has members ranging from 18 to 68, I’ve loved seeing first-hand how older and younger generations can come together to help each other become mentally and physically stronger.”
Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism, Lord Elis-Thomas, said:
“There has always been an inherent relationship between people and the outdoors in Wales. It’s not just that our landscapes are awe-inspiring; they are steeped in the living history of our language and culture. In 2020, we’re inviting people to check in to our hotels, cottages and campsites – and then to throw open the doors and let the outside in.”
(By the way, the campaign also features another real visitor to Wales…a Welsh collie dog from Manchester who was on holiday with his owners in Aberporth!)
Supporting comments from the industry
Sean Taylor, President and Founder of Zip World said:
I'm immensely proud watching the film, it surpasses all expectations and really captures the vibrancy of Wales. Not only does it stir the emotions of my generation, it resonates with my younger colleagues which I find incredibly inspiring.
Celtic Manor Resort Chief Executive Ian Edwards said:
“I am delighted that Visit Wales is launching the Year of the Outdoors in 2020 with this inspiring advert. It perfectly captures the beautiful landscapes and the incredible environments for adventure that we are blessed to have here in Wales. The Year of the Outdoors campaign is perfect timing as we have just launched the new International Convention Centre Wales with one of our key attractions being the woodland environment around the venue, and the well-being benefits of bringing the great outdoors into the events we hold there.”