Coronavirus: Tourism Industry Update
The situation is developing quickly. Please follow the news reports and for latest advice regularly visit the Public Health Wales website and the Business Wales website
Applications can now be made for support from the second phase of the Welsh Government’s £500m Economic Resilience Fund.
Economy, Transport and North Wales Minister Ken Skates released detailed information last week about this tranche of the fund, worth £200m, including eligibility criteria for businesses and charities to enable them to prepare to apply. Read more details here.
Important clarification: Businesses considering applying for Economic Resilience Fund grants should note that it is only the value of any Business Rate-related grants received that will be deducted. Tourism businesses are encouraged to apply for this support.
Find out if your business is eligible for support from the new Economic Resilience Fund
On 10 April, Economy Minister Ken Skates released further information about the Welsh Government’s new £500m Economic Resilience Fund, including eligibility criteria for businesses and charities to enable them to prepare to apply.
The fund will provide additional financial support during the coronavirus pandemic and will help organisations to manage cash flow pressures. It will help to address gaps not met by schemes already announced by the UK Government, Welsh Government and Development Bank of Wales. Read more details here.
This support provides funds for micro businesses and SMEs. Micro businesses employing between one and nine people may be eligible for a grant of £10,000, whilst SMEs may be eligible for a grant up to £100,000. The support is for those who have seen a reduction in turnover since 1st March 2020. Please check your eligibility at https://fundchecker.businesswales.gov.wales/
Budgets across Welsh Government budgets have been re-purposed in support of the £500m Economic Resilience Fund. Visit Wales is of course part of Welsh Government and our budgets have been part of that re-purposing exercise and therefore cannot provide direct support but we would encourage businesses across the sector including Associations and Destination Management Organisations to look at the grants scheme under the Resilience Fund. Please visit Businesswales.gov for more details.
The eligibility cut-off date for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (Furlough scheme) has been extended from 28 February to 19 March. Employers are now able to claim for furloughed employees that were employed and on their PAYE payroll on or before 19 March 2020. This means that the employee must have been notified to HMRC through a Real Time Information (RTI) submission on or before 19 March 2020. The scheme is due to be fully operational next week.
If you made employees redundant, or they stopped working for you on or after 28 February 2020, you can re-employ them, put them on furlough and claim for their wages through the scheme. This applies to employees that were made redundant or stopped working for you after 28 February, even if you do not re-employ them until after 19 March.
Read more about the eligibility extension and how to claim support through the scheme here.
Although all principal campaign activity was paused from mid-March, we continue to maintain a presence on social media, concentrating on public health information and the simple message of “Visit Wales. Later”. We are retweeting and sharing selected posts across platforms, from destinations, Public Health, Police and others to support the overall message.
The situation is reviewed daily and over the next week to 10 days, subject to public sentiment and the situation at that time, we aim to gradually introduce suitable content on our social channels. We are also putting foundation work in place to ensure that we are in the best position possible to support the industry in the short and mid-term. That work includes consideration of activity that will involve our many stakeholders and partners. Please check in with our industry communications regularly to make sure that you’re up to date with the situation.
The application process to co-exhibit without charge at events/exhibitions is being suspended as our 2020/21 programme is reviewed in the light of Covid-19. Due to the current uncertainty around events we are temporarily suspending the planned pilot scheme for co-exhibitors on Visit Wales led Wales exhibition stands. In due course, once activities and plans become clearer, we will provide an update on how we will work closely with businesses and organisations to reach the travel trade and business event buyers in our key markets.
At this time, if it is appropriate and you are able, there is the opportunity for you to update your travel trade and/or business events specific listing via productlisting.wales that will appear on http://traveltrade.visitwales.com / www.meetinwales.com. If you haven’t yet received an account, please let us know your contact details including contact name, address, email and phone number. If you need any support with your listing or you can’t find your log-in details which you will have received from vw-steward@nvg.net please let us know.
We are committed to providing the support and assurance the business community needs during these unprecedented difficult times and have issued several Coronavirus (COVID-19) related bulletins which can be found here. These include:
- 17 April: Economic Resilience Fund applications process opens
- 10 April: Find out if your business is eligible for support from the new Economic Resilience Fund
- 09 April: Coronavirus: Tourism Industry Update
- 8 April: Urgent Notice to Holiday Accommodation Businesses (Amendment) / Request for Holiday Accommodation Businesses to provide accommodation for vulnerable groups
- 2 April: Coronavirus: Tourism Industry Update
- 30 March: New £500m Economic Resilience Fund launched for Wales
- 27 March: Urgent Notice to Holiday Accommodation Businesses
- 27 March: Self-employment Income Support Scheme; Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
- 26 March: Coronavirus: Tourism Industry Update
- 25 March: Urgent Notice: COVID-19 – Guidance for Holiday Park owners and operators
- 24 March: Coronavirus Guidance on Further Businesses and Premises to Close
- 23 March: Tough new measures to slow the spread of coronavirus introduced today
- 19 March: Ministers announce new £1.4bn business support package
- 12 March: Coronavirus industry information
Make sure you stay up to date with tourism industry news by following us on twitter on @VisitWalesBiz and also encourage others who may benefit, to stay up to date by subscribing to our newsletter here.
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