The Tintern Welcome project has been given a £250,000 boost from Welsh government.

The money is to help Tintern Welcome to deliver improvements to the visitor experience at key arrival points at Tintern including the Abbey, car parks, the village centre bus stops and at the new arrival point where the Wye Valley Greenway (walking and cycling route) enters the village.

This is one of 18 projects to receive money from a £2.9m pot announced by Economy Minister, Vaughan Gething on Friday (May 20) from the Welsh Government’s Brilliant Basics capital fund to help deliver small-scale infrastructure improvements in strategically important tourism locations across Wales.

The fund, which is supporting local authorities and national parks to deliver the improvements which will benefit both communities and visitors, will support projects to help alleviate pressure in areas that are seeing increased visitor numbers.

Brilliant Basics will also support projects to improve accessibility to sites and projects that make their destinations more environmentally sustainable.

The Brecon Beacons National Park Association received £117,565 to provide access for all at the National Park Visitor Centre.

Facilities will include disabled Changing Places and Toilet, parking spaces and an all-terrain mobility scooter for hire

While the Powys Visitor Experience Improvement Project received £210,400

The Project focuses on three key visitor locations in Powys; Brecon, Llandrindod Wells and Lake Vyrnwy.

Each location will make improvements enabling visitors to orientate themselves more effectively upon arrival in the areas, and more easily locate and access key visitor assets.

Elsewhere in Wales funding from the £2.9m will enable the completion of the Porthcawl Cycle Scheme, which will link the cycle route from Rest Bay, to Harbourside, and the Town Centre to Trecco Bay.

Improved access will be seen at selected beaches in Pembrokeshire Coast National Park for wheelchair users that will provide a walkway across the sand, a portable changing structure with hoist and beach wheelchairs. The project will also see boardwalk access at Poppit Sands and the creation of a new viewing platform, with an e-bike hire pilot scheme run in St David’s.

Amenities will be upgraded for both visitors and the local communities at Wepre Country Park and Greenfield Valley, two of Flintshire’s most popular heritage green spaces. Facilities will include improved toilet provision, including a Changing Places toilets and accessible play equipment.

During visit to Swansea, Mumbles and Gower for Wales Tourism Week, the Economy Minister visited Down to Earth who were successful in obtaining Brilliant Basics funding last year.

The Minister visited the award-winning Social Enterprise’s Murton site – which has 100 per cent renewable electricity, heating and hot water and with the Brilliant Basics is now Gower’s first 50kW Rapid EV charge point.

Economy Minister, Vaughan Gething, said: “We’re very aware of the important part that local tourism amenities have on someone’s overall experience when on a day trip or on holiday. These facilities often go unnoticed, but they are an important part of people’s experiences when they visit Wales, while also benefit those who live in the area.

“The £2.9m in new funding I’m announcing today will go to projects which will help us make our destinations more accessible and more sustainable, and to grow tourism for the good of Wales.”