Holiday villages are about to see a revival, this one has the aim of attracting wealthy Chinese tourists to Wales
A village in West Wales is looking to develop a luxury £50million holiday village aimed entirely at the market in the Far East.
As earnings increase, more and more Chinese are traveling, 110,000 visited the UK last year, an increase of 23 per cent from the year before - and they spend an estimated £184million.
The purpose-built holiday centre is at Llanfynydd, Carmarthenshire,and is focused on that market.
It will cater for up to 20,000 visitors a year and will have signs in English, Cantonese and Mandarin, Staff will have to train in Chinese customs.
The resort will be built at Pantglas Hall and would include a five-storey hotel and individual houses
The plans, also include a three-storey 220-space car park, ten shops and a swimming pool, are facing fierce opposition from locals who claim the development will have a negative effect on the rural community.
Local Councillors are asking ‘What advantage is it going to bring to Llanfynydd? It’s not for local people, is it? It is for Chinese holidaymakers.’
The scheme is due to be considered by planners in Carmarthenshire in the New Year.
The chalets will be sold privately and will provide a second home for the clientele. The aim is that the complex will open Wales up to the growing Chinese tourist market which at present knows little or nothing about Wales.
The developers plan to bring at least 20,000 Chinese clients each year to Wales.
Most of China lives in poverty but its growing economy has produced an estimated 960,000 millionaires to date.
6 comments:
And then by having signs in English, Mandarin and Cantonese but no Welsh would not teach them anything about Wales and her bilingual nature and also wouldn't immerse them in the local vibrant Welsh speaking culture of Llanfynydd itself, rather an isolated island of tourism that will make some big developer rich whilst Welsh speaking Wales becomes ever more economically weak and eroded, and the languages looses more ground again.
Yeah fantastic Idea :/
If the Chalets are to be sold privately then they will do no more for the economy than the holiday homes currently owned by people from England.
Presumably the 20,000 visitors a year mean that the chalets will be sublet?
Who will own the proposed shops? will they be locally owned businesses selling locally made products, or (far more likely) estate owned shops selling Chinese luxury items?
All good points I wonder if they will get planning permission for it ?
To me it seems bizarre to build a ghetto albeit a luxurious one
No doubt if they ever get built they will occupied by people from the East - east of Offa's Dyke that is.
I suspect the Chinese aspect is a red herring.
Just popped over to wish you a Happy NEW YEAR!
Maggie X
Nuts in May
Skip the point though. Why should working people in Wales be unable to afford secure tenancies or mortgages because there isn't enough housing, yet these are built.
I believe the word is 'Priorities'
Incidentally, 110,000 Chinese spending 184M works out at over £1600 a head. That is a spend in the UK as a whole and including airfare, but no way within just Wales to the benefit of Wales. Very little of it benefits Wales or it's inhabitants.
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