Visit Wales Industry News

News for the Tourism Industry in Wales

9 July 2020

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

BULLETIN CONTENTS - COVID-19 UK Government further support for businesses; Legionella risks; ICO guidance to businesses collecting personal data for contact tracing; Making the most of your Visit Wales presence; COVID-19 UK Tourism Consumer Tracker Survey; COVID-19 Tourism Taskforce.

COVID-19: UK Government further support for businesses

On 8 July, the Chancellor set out the next steps in the UK Government’s strategy to secure economic recovery from coronavirus.  Visit the Business Wales website for more details.

Legionella risks

Due to premises being closed or having reduced occupancy during the COVID-19 outbreak, water system stagnation can occur due to lack of use, increasing the risks of Legionnaires’ disease.  It is essential that thorough flushing of water systems throughout holiday accommodation, including showers and shower heads, is carried out.

Please review your Risk Assessment and follow HSE guidance regarding reinstating water systems, air conditioning units and related systems. 

ICO guidance to businesses collecting personal data for contact tracing

As hospitality businesses start to re-open the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) have issued initial guidance for businesses asked to record and maintain personal data of customers, staff and visitors in support of the test and trace scheme. Read more on the Business Wales website.

Please note, detailed guidance on gathering and maintaining data will be published by the Welsh Government tomorrow.  We’ll update you further in tomorrow’s newsletter.

Making the most of your Visit Wales presence

As Wales is slowly opening up, it could be a good time to review your online presence.  If you have a listing on www.visitwales.com it’s worth checking it to make sure the information is up to date and making the most of the new features. To do this, log into product listing tool.  

Take a look at the below examples of listings that are using some of the new features:

• Cardiff Castle 
• The Metropole Hotel
• Bryngarw Country Park

 What’s new?

We’ve listened to your feedback and made some improvements to the website, here are some examples of the new features:

• We’ve improved the filters on the location search to make it easier to find listings by area.
• You can now add video content to your listing – a great feature to show people around your property.
• We’ve moved to using large imagery, images should now be 1920 pixels by 1440 pixels (please ensure you own the copyright or have permission from the copyright holder to use the images for promotional purposes). 
• You can now share your social media channels via your product listing.
• We’ve developed a user friendly Top Tips guide to getting the most out of your listing.

If you would like some help logging in or updating your listing, please email Visit Wales Data Steward (vw-steward@nvg.net), call 0330 808 9410 or use live chat whilst in the product listing tool.

COVID-19 UK Tourism Consumer Tracker Survey

The latest weekly report from our UK Consumer Tracker survey is now available on the Visit Britain website showing week 7 findings covering 29 June to 3 July. This provides the latest results of attitudes and intentions to take holidays in the UK and Wales this year.  A detailed report of the profile of visitors across GB has also been published based on the 4 weekly fieldwork period from 18 May to 12 June.

A Wales profile report, covering the same period, on those intending to visit Wales and the types of trips they are planning to take is available on the Welsh Government website. 

• Amongst UK residents planning a domestic holiday this summer, Wales is the number three destination, behind Scotland and South West of England.
• Wales is set to attract a range of visitor types this year. Families make up a higher proportion of intended visitors to Wales over the summer period.
• Wales intenders are planning to come to Wales for a range of holiday types, but ‘countryside or village’, ‘traditional coastal/seaside town’ and ‘rural coastline’ are the top three in the summer. 
• Commercial self-catering (such as a rented holiday cottage), caravan/camping and private homes (including staying with friends/family or on a commercial basis such as Airbnb) are three preferred accommodation categories for Wales trips this summer, followed by hotels and guesthouses/B&Bs. 
• Half of people intending to visit Wales in the summer expect their trip to be a holiday of 4+ nights and just over two fifths expect it to be a short break.  In the winter months, the majority of trips are expected to be short breaks. 

COVID-19 Tourism Taskforce

In the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis Dafydd Elis-Thomas MS, Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism asked that a representative body from the tourism sector be established to discuss with him the impact of the crisis on the industry. The work has encompassed many strands including, common themes such as gaps in the funding packages and ideas for alleviating the problems. 

The group - sometimes referred to as the Tourism Taskforce - is chaired by Welsh Government’s Director of Culture, Sport and Tourism, Jason Thomas, and made up of the four Chairs of the Regional Tourism Forums, the Welsh representatives on Visit Britain and the UK Tourism Industry Council, the Wales Tourism Alliance, UK Hospitality Cymru and Jason Thomas’ senior tourism team.  You can view the group’s terms of reference, including its members. (need check and add external link)

The group has been instrumental in helping Visit Wales highlight the specific needs of the tourism sector to Ministers, including the First Minister.  The Deputy Minister has remarked that despite the very difficult circumstances, the group’s positive spirit and attitude, backed up by their colleagues and teams, would keep the sector together and get through this. Agreed notes from previous meetings are now available to view and will be updated weekly.

Stay up to date with tourism industry news

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 on the Tourism Industry Coronavirus (COVID-19) Bulletins page. The most recent bulletins are below:

Make sure you stay up to date with tourism industry news by following us on Twitter @VisitWalesBiz and also encourage others who may benefit, to stay up to date by subscribing to our newsletter.

Business Wales is providing businesses with tailored support and advice about dealing with coronavirus, from financial and supply chain planning to advice on staffing issues. We would advise Tourism businesses and stakeholders in Wales wanting specific guidance to visit the Business Wales website or call Business Wales helpline on 03000 6 03000, and to regularly visit the Public Health Wales website for up-to-date public health information for you, your staff and your visitors.

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