Forty-four Innogy (formerly National Power) employees from Swindon spent two days on the Gower peninsula looking for buried treasure and completing a range of tasks as part of a team-building exercise.

The event was organised by Call of the Wild, a Neath-based company that specialises in organising teambuilding, management training & corporate events.

Talking about the weekend’s activities, Mark Soanes, Director of Call of the Wild said: “The group took part in challenges to help them win equipment to use in their hunt for buried treasure on Saturday. The winning team were able to choose how to spend a leisure afternoon from a range of beach-based activities such as coasteering, surfing, surf-kayaking or speed-boating. The losing team got buried in the sand!”

Gary Rowan, head of infrastructure at Innogy said: “This is the second time we have come to Wales for team-building purposes. Last year, we did a range of mountain-based activities with Call of the Wild in the Brecon Beacons. This year, for a change, we chose a beach-based challenge at Llangennith.

“Wales is near enough for us to reach but far enough to feel that we are really getting away from it all. It was a great event and everyone got a lot out of it. But behind the fun lay an important business aim to help different team members get to know each other better. While we all work in the same office, the main contact is by phone or email so this was a great way for the team to put a face to a name and improve communication.”

Wales is a popular destination for incentive breaks, with activities for all ages and abilities, ranging from the gentle sport of golf to coasteering and abseiling for the more adventurous.

On the Gower Peninsula itself, there is a huge choice of activities. Euphoria Sailing, based at Swansea Marina, offers team building challenges at sea, Gower Surfing Development provides a number of surfing activities, Parc Le Breos specialises in horse-riding, Clyne Farm offers outdoor activities and Barn Studios at Cheriton teaches the gentler activities of pottery and painting.

Pat Crimp, head of commercial operations at Visit Wales, said: “More and more companies are coming to Wales for this sort of reason. Business tourism, of which incentive travel is a big part, accounted for 1.28 million trips to Wales last year and in turn, these visitors contributed £282 million to the Welsh economy. Wales is accessible, offers great value for money and its range of activities on the coast or inland is simply superb. Combine this with high profile events, such as the Network Q Rally and the FA Cup, and you have a recipe for a successful event for employees or clients.”