WELSH tourism chiefs tried to grab a piece of the Star Wars action by making an audacious claim to part of the Forest.

Last Friday VisitWales put a post (pictured) on its Facebook page claiming: “Not even Stormtroopers from Star Wars The Force Awakens can resist a visit to Wales.”

But the accompanying picture of Stormtroopers surfing the Severn Bore was clearly one commissioned by the Wye Valley and Forest of Dean Tourism Association and taken near Newnham.

The attempted land (and river) grab was spotted by your ever-alert Review who contacted VisitWales asking why they were moving the border halfway to Gloucester from its current location on the Wye.

We never did get an answer to that one – but within hours of the Review contacting VisitWales, the picture of the Stormtroopers had been replaced with a stock photo of a table setting.

The wording remained although the link to Star Wars was not immediately obvious – unlike the Forest which can claim a very close relationship to the blockbuster with part of it having been filmed at Puzzlewood.

It is hoped film and TV tourism will bring around £35 million to the area over the next few years and the tourism association has produced a trail highlighting the many screen locations in the area.

The tourism’s assocation, Mark Terry-Lush said: “We are the UK’s only cross-border tourism association and our members work together to support each other.

 

“Star Wars as well as all the other productions filmed in the area are proving to be a great way to put both the Wye Valley and Forest of Dean on the global screen tourism map.”