Collecting stories at a local festival to encourage the development of grassroots tourism in Bridgend

This paper discusses the methodological approach to collecting locals’ stories via an interactive map during a combined arts festival as part of a wider project to develop grassroots-inspired destination packages as a route to post-Covid-19 sustainable tourism recovery throughout Wales.   The intention was to capture place-focused data from a cross-section of the local community through outreach work and events, during which locals were encouraged to tell their stories about the area and special places to visit to include specific grassroots elements such as heritage, culture, language, food and drink, and the natural environment.