Meet in Wales, Wales’ official destination representation
organisation, has announced a series of initiatives, including a new incentive fund for green events, which aim to attract green-leaning
businesses and events.
The launch of the Event Wales Sector
Development Fund,
encourages events to choose sustainable options in exchange for financial
incentives. The fund underlines the commitment from Wales to use the industry as
a vehicle to spread positive sustainability messages.
These initiatives are targeted towards the events industry but
underpin wider government legislation and law. Wales recently introduced
two pieces of legislation including the Wellbeing of Future
Generations (Wales) Act, and The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales)
Bill which looks to ban all single-use plastics in the country;
“Increasingly, events are being used to showcase the green agenda
of the businesses and brands that run them,” said Heledd Williams, head of
business events, Meet In Wales.
“Within Wales there is already a highly
sophisticated energy and environment sector that employs over 58,000 people,
generating over £4.8 billion in revenue. Additionally, many of our venues and
destinations form part of this story and create really visible examples of
‘green business’.”
“Wales is a ‘green’ destination, recognised for our coastline,
lakes, trails, mountain ranges and environmental beauty, it makes us a more
naturally sustainability minded people, who care about the future of our planet
and want to build businesses, innovation and research concerned with it,” added Heledd. “The partnership between the events community, the wider
Welsh government and the local business community in Wales is genuine and
visible, not just though what we’re saying but the funding opportunities and
laws that underpin it.”
