Tourism chief is more than just a visitor to Penarth (From Penarth Times)

Tourism chief is more than just a visitor to Penarth

IT'S a ringing endorsement for the town of Penarth that the head of the Welsh Tourist Board has set up home here.

And WTB chief executive Jonathan Jones believes a bright future beckons for Penarth as a South Wales tourist hotspot.

The 57-year-old, who has lived in Penarth for two years, says the town will benefit enormously from the headland link to the Cardiff Bay barrage.

He also believes that Penarth would make a perfect venue as a festival town.

Jonathan Jones said: "Festivals are very good news. You only have to look at what has been achieved in Hay-on-Wye, in Abergavenny with the Food Festival and with the Faenol Festival in north Wales.

"You have to be ambitious and I think the Penarth film festival idea is very exciting. People said the Dragon studios project would never happen but it has. It's very important that you offer something sufficiently different and that the marketing is right.

"Tourism has enormous economic potential. It brings more than 6 million a day into the Welsh economy."

Jones, who describes himself as a "grey panther" - part of an older generation that thrives on sporting and outdoor pursuits - says he has fallen in love with Penarth.

He said: "Before moving here I imagined Penarth to be a bit of a retirement town. I was pleasantly surprised to find such a dynamic, vibrant community.

"I do all my shopping in Penarth and rarely have to venture into Cardiff. I am a very keen cyclist and really enjoy the coastal path. It's truly breathtaking."

Jonathan Jones, a Welsh speaker from the north Pembrokeshire town of Preseli, did a business studies course at the University of Glamorgan before going to work for the British Tourist Association in Holland, where he was eventually promoted to director.

Jones is a fluent Dutch speaker and mastered the language to the extent that he was able to give television and radio interviews.

He also speaks French.

Jones returned to Wales after a stint in London and was communications and marketing director at the Welsh Tourist Board before being promoted to the top job.

The Welsh Tourist Board will be integrated into the Welsh Assembly Government in March next year.