THE recent regeneration of Newport Market and Arcade and the return of events such as the Food Festival has seen people return to the city, but could more be done to attract more visitors to Newport?

Conservative activist Michael Enea has called on the council to do more to promote the city, adding that a number “quirky locations” which are unique to Newport could be publicised further.

“Tourism should be a major driver in attracting visitors to Newport,” he said.

“There's a plethora of hotels, B&Bs and guest houses located in the city that are all heavily dependent on visitors and high footfall numbers.

“There are even some great camping sites such as the Tredegar House Caravan Park, Whitehall Farm near Caerleon and Ty Coch Farm in St Brides.

“There’s some really quirky locations in Newport – the Gout in Peterstone, the sea wall in Goldcliff, the Allt-yr-yn nature reserve, and of course you’ve got the market, and the Mercure Hotel.

“It’s a great weekend away.”

South Wales Argus: Camera Club member Christina Dickson took this stunning picture at the sea wall at Goldcliff.Camera Club member Christina Dickson took this stunning picture at the sea wall at Goldcliff. (Image: Christina Dickson)

Mr Enea highlighted that there are no ‘Visit Newport’ pages on social media – aside from a dormant Twitter account not affiliated with the council.

Neighbouring areas – including Cardiff, Bristol, Swansea Bay and Monmouthshire – all have these accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Visit Cardiff has almost 30,000 followers on Facebook, more than 52,000 followers on Twitter, and more than 13,000 followers on Instagram; while Visit Bristol has more than 95,000 Twitter followers, almost 60,000 followers on Facebook, and almost 80,000 followers on Instagram.

Visit Swansea Bay, Mumbles and Gower has 95,000 followers on Facebook, and Visit Monmouthshire has more than 20,000 followers across the three sites.

“If you’ve got a big event coming up – for example the Food Festival – having a big following on the page would only help promote it,” said Mr Enea.

“Rival neighbouring cities are putting Newport to shame.”

A Newport council spokesperson said: “The city is promoted to potential visitors through other channels including cityofnewport.wales – which focuses on information for tourists as well as being used to attract new businesses to the city; marketing campaigns; social media; digital displays at key service stations and promotional leaflets. Bloggers are used to raise awareness among targeted audiences.

“And we promote events and activities through our own website, Newport Matters and various other channels.

“We work in partnership with other organisations, including Visit Wales, tourist attractions and hotels, to promote the city which gives even greater coverage than the council can achieve on its own.

“For example, a campaign to the travel trade has brought many tour operators to the city and they are still making bookings now.

“Research showed that in 2019 Newport attracted more than 4.6 million visitors and we are working towards achieving those numbers again as we recover from the pandemic.”

“The biggest winners from having a strong trade in tourism would be Newport’s many pubs, bars, restaurants, coffee houses and retail outlets,” said Mr Enea.

He said that other ‘Visit’ pages helped to promote independent businesses in the associated areas.

“Clearly I think they could be doing more,” he added.

Newport council said it had recently been handed control of the ‘Visit Newport’ website – which was developed more than 20 years ago by Newport Unlimited – and that 145,000 people used it in the last year.

Visitors to the site have reported issues with its security certificate, and a council spokesperson said this was

A council spokesperson said “being resolved urgently”.