'THIS WEEK'"Archived Copies of Newspaper" National Library of Wales, Various dates. was the free national tourism newspaper for Wales published between 1988 and 2005, established by Steven Potter and Terry Jackson from Cambridge to provide Local Knowledge Nationwide to visitors. It laid claim to being the first colour tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom using new, digital pre-press technology on an Apple Macintosh 512K desktop computer, a claim that remains undisputed. It laid further claim in 1995 to being the first newspaper published online, to extend local knowledge Worldwide using the original Netscape Navigator v1.0 web browser within months of its 14 December 1994 launch.

Despite these early successes, the newspaper faced the same challenge as its elder contemporaries in making well-curated content pay on the World Wide Web while maintaining a traditional print presence, costly by comparison. The last edition of the newspaper appeared in 2005 under its associated Staying in Wales masthead with a new "Insight" magazine supplement featuring The Countryside–Y Cefn Gwlad while THIS WEEK went into hibernation for an indefinite period of time. The newspaper's founders went their separate ways: Steven Potter leaving Wales for London in 1995 to set up LondonTown.com; Terry Jackson remaining in Wales to develop the beta Wales.info open web platform and the newspaper's online presence, realised seventeen years later in 2022 as a new collaborative journalism project.

History 'THIS WEEK' was the brainchild of Steven Potter during the second year of his marketing degree course at Lancaster University. The previous year, having convinced friend and business mentor Terry Jackson that the newly launched Apple Macintosh 512K was essential to his university studies, he arrived at the City of Lancaster with his new possession and Steve Jobs (RIP) as his all-time hero.

Jackson, meanwhile, had bought Cae Rhys farmhouse on three acres of land in the Snowdonia National Park to get away from the rat race and applied for planning permission to convert barn buildings on the land into a residential education centre."Cae Rhys Educational Project Prospectus", 15 July 1988. This was to be run in conjunction with the Snowdonia National Park Study Centre,"1. Introduction", Cae Rhys Educational Project Prospectus, 15 July 1988. and school visits to the Trawsfynydd nuclear power station whose parent company, Magnox Electric, was keen on educating the next generation of energy consumers."5. Project development", Cae Rhys Educational Project Prospectus, 15 July 1988. Destiny intervened when Potter came to stay at Cae Rhys during the 1988 summer recess, ostensibly to help lay out educational programmes for the new centre on his prized Apple Mac, while Jackson researched opportunities for students to let off steam at visitor attractions in the area."6. Group itinerary development" Cae Rhys Educational Project Prospectus, 15 July 1988.

With planning permission a long way off and by no means certain, and with out-of-date tourist information leaflets spilling out of cupboards and gathering dust in the farmhouse, it was a light-bulb moment for the two protagonists who decided time would be better spent researching an apparent gap in the market for up-to-date information provision to visitors at their destinations in Wales, and the potential for publishing a free newspaper for visitors, vindicated by later research."Promotional Literature Consultation", Wales Tourist Board, March 1994."Visitor Information Survey", Wales Tourist Board, 1996."UK Visitor Information Research", Wales Tourist Board, 1997."Visitor Information Gathering Behaviour", THIS WEEK Wales, 1998. It also gave Potter a substantial, in-depth project for his marketing degree, which coincided with a report to the Wales Tourist Board in June 1988 of a Study of the Social, Cultural and Linguistic Impact of Tourism in and Upon Wales."Study of the Social, Cultural and Linguistic Impact of Tourism In and Upon Wales" European Centre for Traditional and Regional Cultures, Llangollen, Clwyd, June 1988. Three months later, after Wales Tourist Board research on the information gathering habits of visitors at their destinations revealed only 1% of visitors to Wales read local newspapers because they didn't contain information relevant to their stay, This Week was born with a distribution formula targeting visitors alone, with little leakage into the domestic market and few return copies.

The first North Wales edition was launched in March 1989 by Secretary of State for Wales, Wyn Roberts at Penrhyn Castle, hosted by the National Trust in Wales"THIS WEEK Newspaper Launch Photo Montage", National Trust, Penrhyn Castle, March 1989. The front cover featured a specially commissioned watercolour of Fishing Boats at Borth-y-Gest by local Porthmadog artist Rob Piercy"THIS WEEK Week First Edition", THIS WEEK in North Wales front cover, 18–31 March 1989. The launch attracted much media attention and the newspaper became the subject in 1990 of a BBC TV documentary entitled Into Print, produced by Fleet Street journalist Michael Bywater"Into Print; Publish and be Read", BBC2 England, Michael Bywater, 11 September 1990. and still airing occasionally on BBC2.

Regional editions covering Mid Wales, South Wales and West Wales were launched the following year to give national coverage with WYTHNOS YMA, a special Welsh language edition, published annually for the National Eisteddfod of Wales. Trade Mark applications were filed on 24 July 1998 for THIS WEEK and WYTHNOS YMA under Class 16: Newspapers, printed publications and letterheads, all relating to tourism in Wales. The applications were successful and Trade Mark UK00002173032 was entered into the Intellectual Property Register on 7 January 2000."Trade Mark Registration" Intellectual Property Register, 7 January 2000. National coverage enabled a series of successful, pan-Wales campaigns with major sponsors and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) support in partnership with the three Regional Tourism Companies (RTCs) in Wales under contract. When support for the RTCs was withdrawn by the Wales Tourist Board in 2002, the companies struggled to stay in existence; the partnerships were dissolved and they became market competitors with the exception of the South Wales company, which went into voluntary liquidation in 2003. As a result, and with developments hampered by the negative effect on tourism of the 2001/ 2002 foot and mouth outbreak, the newspaper was unable to build on its online investment in Wales and maintain a presence in print at the same time. A final edition was published in 2005 and the online digital assets laid to rest until a new, commercially sustainable, online business model could be conceived based on the five Cs of the new tourism marketplace: Content– Community–Culture–Connectivity–Commerce.

Content The newspaper's content was a formulaic mix of regional features, news in brief items, comprehensive calendars of seasonal events, and campaigns targeting specific reader groups. Editors were selected based on local knowledge, cultural integrity, journalistic experience and readability, all supported by local area maps, guides and imagery. Electronic layout and typesetting was by QuarkXPress in five columns, three for editorial matter, two for standard format advertising. AGaramond 9pt was adopted as house font, 7pt for closely set events listings, and Bodonoi Bold 56pt for headlines. The THIS WEEK masthead was set in Walbaum Roman 88/ 77pt with the National Tourism Newspaper of Wales strapline set in Frutiger UltraBlack 10.5pt.

Masthead The THIS WEEK masthead drew comment from a number of well-meaning critics who felt it at odds with a newspaper starting life as a biweekly (every other week) and later becoming a seasonal, magazine-style news-sheet. This, however, was formula publishing stretched to its logical limits to deliver just-in-time information to a changing readership of visitors staying no longer than a fortnight at their destinations. In fact, the average visitor stay in the 1980s across the traditional fortnightly summer holiday and short breaks at other times of the year was less than a week. THIS WEEK, therefore, became the visitors' week rather than marking a sequential period of time.

Maps Prolific use was made of geographic information in laying out the newspaper's editorial, helping readers to navigate pages and locate things of interest on the ground. The development of an early geographic information system using Maps in Minutes facilitated colour map production using more than a hundred different data set layers of information. Maps became a distinguishing feature of the newspaper, giving it a unique selling proposition (USP) that it was able to carry through to online publishing in conjunction with the Taste of Wales/ Blas ar Gymru Campaign. THIS WEEK became an Ordnance Survey licensed development partner to explore new, online mapping applications in particular, but complicated licensing terms stalled any worthwhile developments.

Campaigns The following newspaper campaigns were designed to enhance visitors' experience at their destinations in Wales; tell stories to friends and family about their visit, and encourage return visits to Wales for holidays and short breaks. Distribution outside Wales was to encourage impromptu decisions to come to Wales.

Gerald's North Wales

A cartoon strip"Gerald's North Wales cartoon strip", THIS WEEK in North Wales, 22 July–4 August 1989. about Gerald of Wales run in conjunction with Siriol Productions and Cadw to make learning about Wales easy and fun for young visitors.

Taste of Wales-Blas ar Gymru

A campaign that ran through the entire lifetime of the newspaper from the first edition, which carried a 4-page Taste of Wales pullout supplement. Food and drink became a recurring theme, which, as well as representing the second biggest spend by visitors to Wales after accommodation, was one of the few Welsh 'export' items that visitors could continue to purchase on their return home. Sponsorship from the Welsh Development Agency resulted in advanced, multi-layered, colour location mapping"Blas ar Gymru 2000 Map" Wythnos Yma 2000. that became the campaign's hallmark, with Cordon Bleu cook Gilli Davies joining the editorial production team.

The Four Seasons in North Wales

A 1989 limited edition collection of four fine art prints,"The Four Seasons in North Wales"This Week in North Wales/ Wythnos Yma back cover, April 1999. signed and numbered by North Wales artists, celebrated completion of the first phase of restoration of the Plas Glyn-y-Weddw mansion that housed the Oriel Plas Glyn-y-Weddw Gallery: Spring at Cwm Pennant (watercolour) by Dylan Evans Summer at Dinas Dinlle (watercolour) by Dylan Evans Autumn in Beddgelert (oil) by Gwyneth ap Tomos Winter at Drws-y-Coed (oil) by Gwyneth ap Tomos

CC Rover Bus Campaign

Public transport also became a recurring theme in the newspaper, aiming to persuade visitors to use scenic bus routes and railways to get around and discover new things to do at their destinations. Sponsorship from Crosville Cymru, later to become absorbed into the Arriva Group, enabled the creation of a fun CC Rover cartoon character whose Designer-Paw-Mark"CC Rover" THIS WEEK in North Wales 1999 edition p7. trailed for visitors where to go by bus in North Wales.

Yr Iaith Gymraeg–The Welsh Language

Useful words and phrases for greetings, eating out and place names.

Wales Arts and Culture Campaign

A campaign incorporating Project Ffynnon"Project Ffynnon" Wales Arts & Culture Marketing Campaign (Incorporating Project Ffynnon), 1 June 1998. to give Wales a new-media marketing edge for the promotion of Welsh cultural tourism.

150 Things to Do in North Wales