THE profile of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park has been raised significantly among coach tour operators thanks to the charm and persuasive skills of Italian student Caterina Martino.
Caterina swopped the sunshine and dramatic landscape of southern Italy for the green fields and coastline of west Wales and has been living and working in the area for over a year as she studies at Trinity College, Carmarthen.
For six weeks Caterina has been on a work placement at the National Park headquarters in Haverfordwest and has been contacting both local and national coach operators who bring parties of visitors to the Pembrokeshire area.
"The project is part of my studies at Trinity College for an MA in Heritage Tourism. It involves contacting coach operators, building up a database and sending them questionnaires," said Caterina.
"Visitors come by coach to places like Tenby and Saundersfoot, but how many of them realise that they are in a National Park? This project is about raising the profile of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and the coach operators have been very receptive and helpful."
Caterina - who celebrated her 28th birthday when in Pembrokeshire - first came to Wales last year under the European Union-funded Leonardo da Vinci scheme. This included work placements with South Pembrokeshire rural initiative SPARC, and Antur Cwmtaf Towy at St. Clears.
She is now back in Carmarthen to complete her MA degree and would like to remain in the area to gain more work experience before returning to Italy.
"West Wales is a lovely area and I enjoy living and working here. My parents came from Italy to visit me and they thought that this area is so unspoilt - we are not used to such greenery. Our home in La Citta dei Sassi (The City of Stones) in the Matera area of southern Italy is part of a very different and dramatic landscape. Like West Wales communities we have a very long and fascinating history and there is also a National Park nearby at Pollino.
"Working for the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park has certainly raised my awareness of National Parks and it has been a most enjoyable and rewarding project," added Caterina.