The Week That Was #319

1. Marking Wales Tourism Week with our Experience Makers campaign

“Tourism and hospitality is a great sector to work in” – was the message from Economy Minister, Vaughan Gething, to mark the start of Wales Tourism Week 2022 (15 to 22 May). We’ve been working with Visit Wales and Working Wales on the Experience Makers campaign to encourage more people to work in Wales’ exciting tourism and hospitality industry, by highlighting the amazing experiences on offer. We’ve travelled across Wales to speak to people already working in some of Wales best restaurants, bars and tourism attractions to find out what’s great about their jobs, from flexibility, friends and more. As part of Wales Tourism Week, our films were shared widely on the Visit Wales and Working Wales channels as well as creating an industry toolkit to help tourism businesses with recruitment.

2. A welcome in the hillsides for the Irish Post

Our work with Welsh/Irish tourism partnership, the Celtic Routes, was well demonstrated this week in press trip coverage secured in the Irish Post, following a visit to Wales earlier this month.

We organised a short break for the editor of the paper, known as the voice of the Irish community in Britain, to experience a range of gems from the Welsh county of Carmarthenshire, from the home of Dylan Thomas, to Laugharne Castle and Cenarth Falls. For staycation inspiration, pick up a copy of this week’s Irish Post, or visit the Irish Post online.

3. The global scientific community’s response to the coronavirus pandemic

“A once in a generation opportunity to change the way the world works to fight disease and protect our most vulnerable communities.”

That’s how infectious diseases expert Dr Owen Seddon, from our online education provider client Learna, described the outcome of the global scientific community’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. We worked to get his insight featured in Drug Target Review, one of the top news websites for researchers and scientific leaders in drug discovery and early-phase therapeutic development.

Dr Seddon states that while a unique set of circumstances helped scientists produce a vaccine in record time, many aspects of research and development can be replicated in future to help us solve longer-standing threats like influenza and viral haemorrhagic fevers.

4. Proving anything is pawsible with Big Ideas Wales

This week we sent dog-lovers barking-mad with our latest Big Ideas Wales case study featuring founder of dog activity centre Dog Adventure Land, Sean Mayor, who started his dog-centric business at just 13 years old.

Dog Adventure Land is a stress-free, outdoor activity centre that was launched in June 2021 in response to the social and separation anxiety experienced by puppies born during the pandemic.

Caring for 25 dogs daily, Dog Adventure Land is the only Welsh day care centre for dogs that operates in the great outdoors. And with its one-year anniversary on the horizon, we put together a story for media about his extensive business growth plans.

Read more about Dog Adventure Land at Wales 24/7, Vale Life and Companion Life.

5. Crowning the UK’s top young pastry chef

Coleg y Cymoedd learner Josie Wheeler has beaten seven other budding patisserie stars from across the UK to win the 2022 Young Student Pastry Chef of the Year competition. The talented teenager impressed a star -tudded panel of judges, including Bake Off the Professionals’ Benoit Blin, with her sweet skills. We shared her fantastic achievement with media, securing coverage in titles including Wales 247