Hay Tourism Meeting

Well, the minutes have been circulated, so I now have a better idea of what went on at the meeting.
There were representatives from many local groups there (Giles from pixelshifters sent his apologies, but he does tend to be Mr Elusive). So there, gathered together, were the Brecon Beacons Tourism association, Hay Tourist Information Bureau, the Town Council, the National Park, the Festival, Wye Local magazine, Marches TV, Community Enterprise, and the Chamber of Commerce. Quite a crowd.

Now I'm going to shamelessly pluck sentences out of context from the "Comments from the Floor" section, on the grounds that these were the points I answered in an email to Anna, who is co-ordinating matters:

"Can we work towards profiling the town on TV (Countryfile, Holiday programmes, etc.)?"

"The town needs to promote the fact that it is 'not just a load of old books'. 'Town of Books' image is strong but may be damaging tourism prospects. Desire to make more of diversity on offer in the town & immediate environs."

"Genealogy - create churchyard indexes and open churches to attract visitors. Genealogy growing in popularity and needs to be profiled."

So this is what my response to those points in particular was:

Hi Anna,
Just thought I'd make a couple of points now I have the minutes (thanks for sending them to me, and sorry I couldn't be there in person).
The first thing is the TV coverage. There was a period through the early 90s to just a few years ago when you knew spring had arrived because you saw the first film crew in Hay, kind of like the first swallow of summer. Why did they come? The bookshops.
Second and related point - what is Hay's unique selling point? When a family in Birmingham, say, is deciding where to spend their summer holidays, what will make them think of Hay as a destination? If they want pony trekking or canoeing or walking (or cycling), there are many, many places they could choose - why pick Hay? The unique thing about Hay is the books - you could go almost anywhere else for a pleasant country holiday that Hay could provide without the books.
The genealogy point is interesting too - the Cinema Bookshop presently has a huge collection of books and pamphlets about Genealogy in stock, and the most interesting people have been coming to buy them.
I think I can sum up my feelings by saying that you ignore or downplay the bookshops at your peril - they are what makes Hay special. By all means develop the other activities for tourists; diversity is always good - but don't forget the books.
Lesley Arrowsmith