The decision by BSI Speedway to move the start
time of the 2009 Cardiff GP no doubt surprised many people and one wonders what
the people at www.vistitwales.com, who are amongst the main sponsors of the GP,
thought about it. After all it is the official Welsh tourist industry web site
and so one assumes its aim is to
encourage people to visit Wales, especially for longer periods than day trips,
and therefore maximal the benefit to the local economy from tourism.
The official BSI Speedway line for why the
decision has been taken accounting to its Managing Director Paul Bellamy in the
Speedway Star of 20th December 2008 was that “British GP has been a victim of
its own success… increasingly difficult to accommodate all the fans wishing to
stay in Cardiff on the Saturday night” but many fans believe the true reason is
that BSI were aware of the increasing unhappiness of many fans with the policy
of many local hoteliers who vastly increased nightly rates and increased
minimum stay period when the GP circus hit town.
Whist the hoteliers may claim that the rates/min
stay period are the result of market forces i.e. high demand low capacity it
also says something about the Welsh capitals and surrounding areas attraction
as a tourist destination something which I assume that visitwales.com will not
be happy about.
The GP weekend must be one of the few weekends,
apart from when the RU five nationals circus arrives in town, that the city’s
hotels are fully booked since the Millennium Stadium suffered the double blows
of
a) Losing its soccer attractions (playoffs and FA
Cup matches) to the rebuilt Wembley Stadium
b) Rugby Super League moving its Magic Weekend to
Edinburgh. The reason according to press reports was that the RFL had lose
patience with the city hosing arrangement in particular the expensive hotel
bills and lack of promotion.
Maybe the sponsorship money would be better spend
holding seminars for the local hoteliers and others associated with the
tourism industry explaining that most
good business are built up on repeat business and that good customer relations
is not smiling as you charge a rip off rate for your service especially in
these hard economic times.
S.O.S