A call to keep funding tourism marketing organisation ‘Visit Pembrokeshire’ at £25,000 a year was narrowly backed by national park members after hearing fears of a downturn in visitors to the county.

At the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park meeting of July 30, members were asked to consider whether to continue its financial support of Visit Pembrokeshire, a trade led stand-alone Destination Marketing Organisation for the county set up in late 2020, for 2026-2029.

A report for members stated: “The focus of the organisation was to be on leading the delivery of the county’s tourism strategy (its Destination Management Plan) in partnership, leading on destination marketing activity, campaign and project delivery, industry liaison and support, research and intelligence, advocacy, branding and supporting some events.”

It has been funded at £25,000 a year, with the current arrangement due to end this year.

On July 7 the county council’s Cabinet agreed to provide Visit Pembrokeshire with “a flat grant agreement worth £152,000 per year between April 2026 to March 2029”.

The report says the park “is facing a significant financial deficit and seeking to work towards setting a balanced budget,” but “there are strong strategic reasons why the authority should provide support for the 2026-2029 period”.

Options included cutting all funding; continuing to fund at the current rate; a 10 per cent reduction to £22,500; and a phased reduction from £25,000 in 2026-27, down to £20,000 by 2028-29.

It concluded: “Supporting Visit Pembrokeshire is one of the ways that the Authority can support the tourism industry and the communities of Pembrokeshire. While the Authority is facing significant financial challenges, there are strong strategic reason why the Authority should support Visit Pembrokeshire until 2029.”

A proposal to make a 10 per cent cut in funding was proposed by Cllr Di Clements, countered by a proposal to keep the funding at the current level by Cllr Maureen Bowen.

Cllr Bowen told fellow park members she had been “amazed how empty the beaches are” recently, adding: “In my opinion there’s a reduction, I feel option two should be our choice, let’s not be half-hearted about supporting Visit Pembrokeshire and make a token cut because we can, at the moment we need to give all the support to bring business in.

“There seems to be a downward trend in tourism; I lived in Tenby for 26 years and I can feel the trend. A £2,500 cut is neither here nor there, let’s support these people.”

Cllr Bowen was backed by Cllr Simon Hancock who said the “symbolism of support means more than the £2,500 saving”.

While members heard that any talk of visitor reductions were “anecodotal” at this stge, they supported Cllr Bowen’s call for funding to remain at the current level by seven votes to six.